The Brokenhearted Lion
by TiredRaven
Summary: How do you heal after losing someone close to you? It's never easy, but despite Wyn Adworth's success in her personal and school life, the hole her brother left will not heal. And as time goes on, the hole seems to get bigger, not smaller. DEAD.
1. Suspiciously Like Mum

Good day. WELCOME TO THE REVAMPED EDITION OF _THE HEARTBROKEN LION _WRITTEN BY YOURS TRULY, TIREDRAVEN! (Suppose I shouldn't wait for much applause, should I?)

Well, I'm mostly pleased with this chapter. This is basically because I've eliminated Justin and replaced him with my favorite of Wyn's friends…

And it's not Luna. (Duh, as Luna hasn't started Hogwarts yet in this chapter). AND it's not Neville. (Allow me to cry, as he is my favorite character of all time). IT IS… well, you won't have to read long to find out now, will you? Let's just say he has the greatest…

Hm… you'll just get to read the story.

Hope this is better, I'm personally much happier with Wyn in this chapter. (She's still a bit annoying, but she gets better in later chapters. I just couldn't bring myself to delete the first fifty pages… I just edited them with a fierce passion. Therefore, some of her more annoying traits are pleasant.)

FINISH READING AND REVIEW WHEN YOU'RE DONE! IF YOU HAVE ANYMORE SUGGESTIONS TELL ME, AS MY LATER CHAPTERS ARE STILL GOING THROUGH THE REVAMP.

Please and thank you, if you please. (woot…)

Oh, and, I've been talking to my lawyers again. (I really should stop doing that.) And they've informed me that I own very little in the world, as I still live with my parents. Therefore, I also fail to have the deeds to Harry Potter. I do not own it, but I wish I did. If I did, Sirius would be alive, Luna would be a more elaborated character, Harry would be very, very deaded, and Evans would still have the last name Evans. 'Cause calling her Potter just isn't as cool.

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Elwyn and Calder Adworth stood quietly at King's Cross Train Station in London, England. Elwyn's tired brown eyes were staring apprehensively at the area in between Stations 9 and 10. She knew where Platform 9 and ¾ was, but she couldn't bring herself to go.

She sighed. All she had wanted for years was to go to Hogwarts. Elwyn loved magic, and she was undoubtedly gifted with her wand. At a very young age she had shown extreme promise, and everyone had been expecting a lot out of her. She had seen Hogwarts as a way to hone her skills. Elwyn laughed quietly, remembering the day she had discovered she could make the cookies come to her, instead of perilously trying to get to them.

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_"But Mummy! I want one!" a three-year-old Elwyn said. _

_"Honey, you can have one when your brothers comes back from Cedric's house," her mother said, looking down at her daughter. _

"_But I want one NOW!" Elwyn said, holding out her head and giving her mum a pathetically cute puppy-dog look._

"_Not now," her mum said and sighed, ruffling her daughter's already very thick black hair. With that the case was closed, and she left the room. _

_Elwyn stared intently at the cookie jar. "I want one," she said, with determination in her voice. She focused hard on the cookies. Suddenly, the cookie jar flew from the shelf and landed in her hands. Startled, she had immediately dropped the cookie jar. Her mother had come in furious, but left very, very happy. _

"_Oh, El!" she had said, "Already, showing such strong signs! You'll be a wonderful witch!" she said delightedly, "Your father will be ecstatic!"_

_Elwyn eyed the cookie jar. Laughing, her mum handed her one, "Kip and Calder will be pleased that he has someone to practice with."_

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Elwyn sighed and angrily wiped away a tear that was threatening of flooding out of her eyes at the thought of her brother Kip. She had wanted to go to Hogwarts, but things were different now. So very different…

Standing defiantly in the shadows of the station, she thought about going back home and forgetting Hogwarts. She thought about lying down next to her brother and letting him hold her like he always used to. She thought about how inadequately she had said goodbye, how tired he seemed even though he had hardly left his bed at all in a month. She thought about his gaunt, increasingly hollow face, and about his mouth that was always curled into his warm, familiar smile. She wondered how he could smile, knowing what he knew. She wondered, oh, did she wonder, how he could stand it when she couldn't.

She thought about everything that she wanted to tell him, all the things they used to say they would do. She thought about how much she loved him and how much she would miss him. Though her thoughts were mostly positive, they treaded into negative just as easily. She thought about how empty the house would be without him. How empty would going to school be without him there with her? How could she abandon him? How could she possibly going to school knowing that he was dying? How could she ever leave her brother? How could she give up when he never could?

She ignored the thought in her head that told her why. Always, always, she believed in the power of magic. But there was one thing that magic couldn't do… and that was save her brother.

Magic could not do the one thing she wanted most….

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"I don't want to go either, Wyn," Calder said solemnly. She looked away from her brother. He looked so much like Kip… Cal grabbed her shoulders and turned her so she was looking him in the eyes. "Wynnie…" he said softly. She bit her bottom lip to stop herself from crying. Finally, Wyn put her head against her brother's body, listening to the beating of his heart and feeling the rise and fall of his chest. He stroked her auburn hair and wrapped his hands around her waist.

They stood there for several more minutes, holding each other. If she closed her eyes she could almost imagine that she was hugging Kip…

Almost.

After they had stood there for a while, they were aware that they were supposed to be leaving. Wyn pried herself from her brother's tight grip and picked up her owl, Ickle Burstein's, cage. She grabbed the handle of her trunk and started heading towards the platform when her Mum ran into King's Cross, looking around frantically for her two children who would be going to Hogwarts this year. Her two younger brothers were in tow.

It was Radley, the baby of the family, who spotted them heading towards the platform first.

"WYNNIE!" he shrieked, racing up to her and hugging her legs. She smiled down at her brother weakly.

"Hey, Rad," she said quietly, picking up the three-year-old. Wyn looked over at her mum, who was obviously relieved that they hadn't left yet. Six-year-old Aiken was holding his mother's hand, walking over to them solemnly. He was angry with them for leaving. He had always gotten angry when Kip and Calder left, but it was worse now that they were taking Wyn. Wyn was his favorite playmate.

"El, Calder, glad we caught you before you left," she said quickly, "I have to get the boys back home and then go back to work, so this'll take only a moment," she rummaged around in the pockets of her jacket. After a moment she pulled out two rings, one with a violet stone in the center and the other with a small green one, "These are portkeys. They'll take you straight home if your brother's condition gets worse. They'll light up when it does, so you don't need to worry about not getting notice and being too late," her mum didn't even cry when she talked about her son's rapidly diminishing life anymore. It was just talk. It was going to happen. She was tired of crying about it in public, though Wyn knew she did when she was alone. They all did. They all tried to be brave, but it was a rapidly crumbling façade.

"Okay, Mum," Calder said quietly, taking the green ring and slipping it onto one of his fingers. Wyn did the same with the violet stoned ring.

"Have a good term, Calder, and do try not to get into such trouble," her mum said.

"Fred and George have other plans about that one, if I know the twins," Calder said, slipping on his mischievous grin.

Wyn's mum turned to her now. "El, have a great first term. Owl with your house and tell me about all of your friends!" she said, taking Rad out of her arms to hug her daughter.

"Mum, I'm called Wyn, not El. I haven't been El since I was five," she said to her mother after she had hugged her. Her mum chuckled, and then turned back to Calder.

"Really though, Calder, not too much trouble," she pulled him into a goodbye hug. Wyn hugged both of the boys, as did Calder.

"Goodbye, Mum!" they both called, starting towards platform 9 and ¾. Wyn still didn't want to leave, but she felt better now that she had a portkey. She would never be able to forgive herself if she wasn't there when he…

Calder told Wyn to go first, so she did, running straight into the wall and into the wizarding world. She grabbed her trunk as Calder came in behind her, and they both headed for the train.

"You can sit with me if you want," Calder said, knowing Wyn had no friends her age at Hogwarts, unlike him when he was a first year.

"It's alright, Cal. I can manage," she said. Cal smiled at her.

"I would've sat with Kip and Cedric if Angelina hadn't decided that I was worthy of her compartment," he said with a snicker, remembering the day Angelina, one of Gryffindor's chasers, had decided he was going to be her best guy friend, "And speak of the devil," he said, instantly wiping any shred of sorrow off his face. Angelina came over with Katie, a fellow chaser, in tow.

"You must be Wyn!" Angelina said, "I've heard so much about you! Calder never stops talking about you, you his favorite?"

"All of the guys are attached to the only girl," Wyn said with a laugh, dismissing her sorrow as well as Calder had.

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A few minutes later, Wyn was walking through the train, being sure to avoid running into older kids. After a few minutes she came to a compartment with three people that looked to be about her age in it.

"Hello," she said cautiously, sticking her head into the compartment. Three heads turned to look at them, two girls and a boy.

"You can sit in here," the boy said quickly. Wyn dashed into the compartment and stored her things, making sure to soothe the by now very frightened Icky. She turned to face the others in her compartment. The boy was smiling at her and motioned for her to sit next to him. She did so quietly, more quietly than she would have if she had not been so distracted by Kip.

"Name's Talon," he said, learning against the window. He had pale skin, dirty blonde hair, and some of the most amazing blue eyes she had ever seen. She smiled at him.

"Wyn," she said, introducing herself to the boy.

"Good to meetcha," he said, pulling out his wand and pointing it absently at his shoes. He muttered something under his breath and the laces on his black sneakers turned from white to a shade of blue very similar to his eyes. "Mef, course, Mum told me a spell to turn everything blue."

He seemed to give up and put his wand into his back pocket again. He sighed and turned to the other girls in the compartment. "Honestly," he said, "I don't have to do all the talking, do I?" he asked. One of the girls immediately shot up and glared at him while the other just blushed and sunk farther down into her chair.

"So you all know each other?" Wyn asked. Talon nodded.

"My Mum and Mandy's Mum are best friends, and Hannah lives down the street from us. I'm a half-blood, Mandy's pure, and Hannah's Muggle-born. Interesting group to all end up at Hogwarts, methinks," he said. "Man," he added with a laugh, "I totally love the word methinks…" he drifted off and took out his wand again. He started to play with it, and she caught one of the girls rolling her eyes.

"Honestly, Talon. Must you be an idiot about everything?" she asked. Wyn snorted a bit.

"'Must you be an idiot about everything?'" he mocked, "Man, Mandy, get that stick from out of your arse. I'm going to play with my wand, and you can shove it," he said, flicking said wand towards his hair. It came out black, which, surprisingly, looked pretty good on him. Mandy rolled her eyes again.

"Your Mum is going to be so happy that you dyed your hair, Talon," she said sarcastically. Talon said nothing, but leaned into the window harder and started twirling a strand of hair in his fingers.

"Hm. I was going to change it back, but I don't think I will now," he said.

"Stop being so immature."

"Stop trying to be an adult. If I wanted to hang out with my Mum, I would bloody hang out with my Mum," he said, murder in his voice.

"Could you two cut it out for three seconds?" the last girl, whom Wyn assumed was Hannah. Both looked at Hannah blankly, then turned to each other and started arguing again. Hannah sighed and turned to Wyn.

"They really don't get on too well. Mum's have forced them on each other too much. Sorry about this. My name's Hannah Abbott, by the way," she said, her blonde pigtails distracting her with their shiny-ness.

"No problem," Wyn said, watching the gleam from her pigtails intently. Hannah looked at her oddly. They then sat in an awkward silence, which Wyn would have noticed had she not been too distracted by Hannah's shiny hair. Talon and Mandy finally stopped arguing and Talon leaned back into his seat.

"Whatever," Talon finally muttered, rummaging through his trunk and pulling out a hat. He threw it over his eyes and put his feet on Wyn's lap.

"Talon! Honestly!" Mandy said.

"Don't mind, do you?" he asked, pulling up his hat so she could see his face. She shook her head.

"Whatever. I've got four brothers, I'm used to being used as furniture," she said. Talon smiled at her.

"See," he growled at Mandy. Mandy ignored him and turned to Wyn.

"I'm Mandy," she said, sticking out her hand to Wyn. Wyn looked at her oddly and shook it.

"So I've heard," she said. The slightest scowl settled over Mandy's face, and Wyn laughed. Despite herself, Mandy started laughing with her. Wyn could tell it pained her that she agreed that she was being stuck-up.

"I'm acting like a git, aren't I?" she asked when she stopped laughing.

"Yeah," Wyn said, "You are. You're acting like a huge git. A spoiled git," she said. Mandy blushed a little.

"Sorry about that. Talon and I are just…"

"Like brother and sister," Wyn said. Mandy shook her head.

"No, not really. I get along with my brother," she said.

"It's just me that she has a problem with, really," Talon said, sitting up and taking the hat off of his eyes. Soon, much to Wyn's amazement, the four fell into a comfortable conversation. She had expected the train ride to be rather tense, but Talon and Mandy seemed to be able to push away their differences rather well. They were about halfway through the ride when Calder came into the compartment.

"Settled, Wynnie?" he asked

"Yup. I'll see you at Hogwart's," Wyn said, as her brother turned to leave.

"Mhmm, when you get sorted into Gryffindor with Fred and George's little brother, Ron."

"Don't count on it, Cal," another voice said, this one belonging to Cedric Diggory, Kip's best friend. Kip's best friend who didn't know why Kip didn't come back to Hogwart's this year…

"She'll be smart enough to avoid you guys like the plague. She'll be sorted into Hufflepuff with me," he said with a smile.

"Shut up, you two," Wyn said, thinking mostly of Hannah. She was probably dying of fright and shyness now.

"Yeah, yeah," Cal said, "Have a good time trying to beat the Gryffindor team this year," he directed that comment at Cedric.

"You just worry about your teams clear lack of a seeker," and with that both of the boys left, leaving three very nervous first years in their wake. They sat in silence for a bit.

Finally, Mandy said something. "Slytherin? Are you bloody mad?"

"Yeah, I know. But it would serve them bloody right," Wyn said, laughing.

"Who were they?" Hannah asked.

"The first one was my brother Calder. He's a fourth year Gryffindor. And the second one was Cedric Diggory, my older brother Kip's best friend. He's a third year, but Kip is a fifth year. As you could tell, Cedric is a Hufflepuff," Wyn said airily, "But let's not talk about them. Where're you guys from? Families?"

"Quick change of subject," Talon muttered to her.

She scooted closer to the door and heard Mandy, Hannah, and Talon burst into conversation. She'd better sit the family question out. Tears would betray her into telling them about Kip. Though she knew they were trustworthy, that much was obvious, she couldn't bring herself to talk to anyone about Kip. Not yet.

"… My older brother is a fourth year Ravenclaw," Mandy said nonchalantly.

"Seems like Gary," Hannah said. Wyn could feel her eyes burning with tears as she cuddled into the wall and pretended she was sleeping.

Perhaps the Kip conversation could wait for a bit longer, if only she stalled.

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That night, Wyn was in line in between Hannah and a girl named Susan. They were to be sorted soon. Wyn held out a small hope that she wouldn't be put into Gryffindor, but she knew it was pointless. Gryffindor born and bred, she was. There was no denying it anymore.

Hannah was sorted into Hufflepuff. She looked quite pleased with herself."Adworth, Elwyn," McGonagall said. Wyn approached the stool and put on the sorting hat.

"_Elwyn, Elwyn. Another Adworth, I see. You're just like your brothers. Brave, daring, a bit of a troublemaker, I see. Yes, yes-"_

_"Erm, Gryffindor, right?_" Wyn thought.

_"Yes, dearie. Most definitely a-"_

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Cheers erupted from the Gryffindor table, and she hopped over to her new table. Fred looked especially smug.

"I told you Wynnie would be in Gryffindor," Fred said to his friend Lee Jordan, "Pay up. The lot of you. Hufflepuff my ass! Wyn is definitely a Gryffindor!"

"Why didn't I think of that?" George said, "Betting on family, that's bloody genius!"

"I'm not your family, George," Wyn said, sitting down across from the twins.

"Sure you are!" they said in unison, Fred's head popping up from counting his money.

"Well, _family,_" Wyn said, doing a quick spell, "Perhaps now people besides family can tell you two apart," she snickered, looking at the nametags she had magicked onto Fred and George's robes. Fred's proclaimed 'Hello, My Name is GEORGE' and George's proudly said 'Hello My Name is FRED.' They sat there for several minutes trying to change the letters or take off the tags, but nothing worked.

"Wynnie!" they said, looking up at her with big eyes, "Get it off!"

"It won't come off for another week," she whispered, her eyes gleaming. Lee and Cal were looking at her with approval.

"She'll be helping us with the Halloween prank," Lee said off-handedly to George.

Lavender Brown got sorted into Gryffindor, followed by Seamus Finnegan, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Parvati Patil, and Harry Potter. _The _Harry Potter. It didn't really surprise her, though. Where else would the boy who lived go? After that Dean Thomas and Ron got sorted into Gryffindor, to the surprise of no one. Fred didn't collect money. Apparently no one would bet a Weasley wouldn't be in Gryffindor.

Harry Potter sat about three seats down from her, with the other first years, the prefects, and Sir Nicholas.

"Hello, Sir Nicholas!" Wyn said, "I've heard so much about you!" Sir Nicholas perked up and he floated over to Wyn, abandoning Harry, leaving him to look onto the conversation, obviously confused.

"Why, young lady, you have good taste in ghosts! Now, which one of these goons are you related to?"

"That one," Wyn said pointing at Calder.

"Us, too!" George piped up.

"Yeah, Nick, she's-"

"An honorary-"

"Weasley!"

"Well," Sir Nicholas said, "I don't know how you became so charming! Please, join the company of Mr. Potter and myself," he held out his ghostly hand to hers, she placed her hand on top of it, and sat down next to Harry. Fred and George followed not too far behind.

"Where's our ickle Ronniekins?" George said loudly as Ron's ears turned an abnormal shade of red. Wyn snorted and looked at him, her amusement showing on her face. He turned an even deeper shade of red and practically stuck his head into his food to avoid looking at the people sitting around the table. She turned to George, her eyes laughing. George smiled at her.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"You, George Weasley, are quite cruel to Ron. Everyone knows that 'ickle' is not necessary for a pet name. I find it much more humiliating to call Cal Big Brother Cally-Wally Kinnie-Face," she said with as straight a face as she could manage. George snorted as Fred burst out laughing, running over to Lee to tell him of his great fortune of knowing how to torture Cal this year. Wyn just smiled to herself and turned back to Ron.

"Honestly, ickle Ronniekins isn't that bad, Ron," she said. He smiled at her gratefully. "I could come up with worse." She laughed out loud when his face fell.

Man oh man, was _this _going to be a fun group.  
They chatted for a while about some of their nicknames (her personal favorites were Gred and Feorge), but the conversation eventually turned to Sir Nicholas and the other house ghosts, so Wyn started searching the Great Hall for Talon, Hannah, and Mandy. She found Talon and Hannah sitting next to each other at the Hufflepuff table, while Mandy was sitting next to a boy with light brown hair at Ravenclaw.

"I'm half-half," Seamus said, "Me Dad's a Muggle. Mom didn't tell 'im 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock."

Everyone went around telling their bloodline and when they showed signs of magic. Neville hadn't shown anything until he was eight, not like that really surprised her.

"I'm a pureblood," Wyn said, "Got two older brothers and two younger brothers, Kip, the oldest, goes to Durmstang," she fibbed easily, "Calder's over there, and the other two are six and three.

"I was three when I first showed signs of magic. I wanted a cookie and my Mum wouldn't give me one, so I brought the cookie jar to me."

"That early?" Ron and Dean asked simultaneously.

"Yeah," she said dismissively. Unfortunately, the boys didn't take the hint.

"You did?"

"That's bloody brilliant!"

"What about Wynnie is bloody brilliant?" she heard Cedric's voice say above her.

"She's a genius!" Dean said. Ron remained quiet and obviously intimidated.

"Oh, yeah," Cedric said, "She's great at magic. That's why I'm over here," he squished in next to Wyn for a moment.

"What, Cedric?"

"Are you seriously leaving me without a potions partner? I'm horrible at potions, and you made Rocktellar over the summer, that was my homework assignment! I neeeeeed you in potions! PLLLEASE! I can sneak you into the Hufflepuff common rooms twice a week so you can help me, please please please?"

"Ugh, fine, Cedric. But you could've done Rocktellar yourself. You know that Frog Legs and Bitterroot don't mix well. I wouldn't have helped you, but you were in _my _room. It would've exploded. Now back to your table, and tell Talon and Hannah, two of the first years, that I'll talk to them tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Yes, beloved potions partner! I bow to your godliness!" Cedric said as he bustled back to the Hufflepuff table. She looked over at Justin who gave her a thumbs up and returned to his meal.

"Bloody hell," Ron said, "You're good at potions?"

"Potions is fun!" Wyn protested.

George poked his head into the conversation, "Really?" he asked, "You're coming in more and more helpful every second, sis."

Ron noticed the nametag on his brothers' robes then. "George, why does your nametag say you're Fred?"

"Ask Wyn," George said dismissively, "The little demon that she is."

"I learned from the best," Wyn said with a wry smile. George laughed and whispered something to Fred. He nodded.

"Meet us in the common room at 10, we're going to scheme," Wyn nodded, "M'kay, see you then, Wynnie."

"So," Ron said, "the nametags?"

"They were claiming that I was an honorary Weasley. So I told them that now maybe someone other than family would be able to tell them apart, and magicked enchanted nametags with the wrong names on them. Then I put on a quick spell so they wouldn't be able to take them off for a week, useful. Especially after the twins adopt you," Ron was nodding vigorously. Percy and Hermione looked at her with interest.

"That's quite advanced for a first year," Percy said. Wyn shrugged. "What did Cedric want with you?"

"He wanted to know if I would help him with potions twice a week," Wyn said without much care.

"Really? Why?"

"I made a Rocktellar potion over the summer, it was his homework and he was doing it wrong,"

"Remarkable magic, really, quite remarkable," Percy muttered. Hermione was shooting daggers at her. She had apparently been impressing Percy until Wyn had intervened.

"Yeah, I guess. But I'm just little Wynnie," Fred and George looked up simultaneously.

"Percy!"

"Stop picking-"

"On poor-"

"Little Wynnie!"

Percy laughed at that. It was strange, seeing Percy laugh. She had practically lived at the Weasley's house this summer, she didn't want to go home where Kip was on his death bed, and she had never once seen Percy laugh.

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And so started Hogwarts. Bubbly, friendly, and incredibly smart and talented, Elwyn Adworth became Gryffindor's sweetheart. All of those in years above her adored her; all of those in her year respected her.

But something was missing. Fred and George immediately recognized that she was never quiet herself. She immersed herself in homework and only pranked people when she got really stressed out. She was still playful, undoubtedly, but she had become increasingly shy. Every night she received an owl, and she would grab the letter and dash up to her in her dormitory. Whenever she came downstairs her eyes would be red, like she had been crying, but she always refused to talk about it.

Cedric claimed more and more of her time. He needed help with potions, he was bringing her to talk to Hannah, Susan, and Talon, she was tired of hanging out with Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs were awesome at Herbology, and she desperately needed help in that subject… the excuses went on and on.

They threw guesses around as to why Wyn was acting so strange. But no one got close to guessing that her favorite brother, supposedly at Durmstang, was slowly but surely dying of a muggle disease. No one guessed that the reason she was spending so much time around Cedric was because he reminded her of the way Kip used to be. No one guessed that the reason she didn't spend much time with the Gryffindors was because Calder looked so much like Kip.

So they watched her, bewildered, as she slowly but surely disappeared with her brother.

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Holy… TEN PAGES?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?! Ok… I'm just gonna shut up now, so you can have lives.

REVIEW!


	2. Dodge the Enchanted Bludger

I am exceedingly proud of myself! La la la…

Woot!

I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER. Being sued is not fun.

Then again, neither is homework.

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Cedric was leading Wyn down the now familiar hallways on the way to the Hufflepuff common room. She stopped as he went to say the password and lead her in. They didn't bother sneaking anymore. Everyone knew Wyn now, she was an honorary Hufflepuff. They glanced up when the portrait door swung open, and all went back to normal after about 10 seconds.

She was explaining Gorgon Potion to a group of third years when her owl started pecking at the window.

"We should let you stay in the Gryffindor common room more," Cedric said playfully, recognizing Ickle Burstein. Wyn snorted.

"Yeah. I'll have you know that Fred and George are pretty sure you brainwashed me, or something to that effect. Cannot actually believe that I like the Hufflepuff common room better than the Gryffindor common room. Whacked out, right?" she said. Cedric laughed.

"Oh, but we're so obviously better than those stupid Gryffies," she said. Wyn shot him a glare.

"One of those 'stupid Gryffies' is in the room right now, if you please," she said irritably as she turned back to the potions book that she was borrowing from one of Cedric's third year friends.

"Please, Wyn. You're totally a Hufflepuff. I keep on trying to tell Professor Sprout that the Sorting Hat just made a mistake but-"

"Don't waste your time. She doesn't like me," Wyn said, walking over to the window to let Icky in. "Hello, pretty bird," she said, producing a treat out of her pocket. Icky sat contentedly and Wyn quickly read the letter.

He was getting worse.

She glared at the letter. Before she could pry her eyes away and stuff it in her book bag and pretend like nothing had happened, she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. She wiped them away ferociously. Cedric came over and put a hand on her shoulder.

"What's wrong, Wyn?" she shrugged off his hand.

"Nothing. So, uh, the Gorgon Potion? It's not that hard, just a few tricks to make it work so well not even Snape will be able to find something wrong with it-" she stopped. Cedric was looking at her carefully. He knew she was lying.

Cedric sat on the couch and patted the spot next to him. "Talk to me."

"I don't want to talk to anyone. I can handle it. You guys need help on the Gorgon Potion, aren't you doing it tomorrow?" Wyn snapped.

"You obviously need to talk to someone," Cedric said. God, she hated that he was right.

"Not you. Not now. When I feel like it," she said fiercely, turning to the group of third years again. Cedric got up and pushed her down onto the couch.

"You. Need. To. Talk."

Wyn looked away from him. She knew she needed to talk. Talking to someone about what she was going through consumed her. Cedric kept prodding her, and tears started flowing freely down her cheeks. He was pissing her off now.

"I don't want to talk about it," Wyn said, her voice radiating danger. Cedric just looked at her.

"Wyn, you'll feel better after you talk," he said.

"Whatever," Wyn said, turning to the group of third years yet again.

"Wyn!" Cedric said, anger rising in his voice.

"Shut up, Cedric. I said I don't want to talk about it. Just drop it. You're happy right now, and there's no need for me to tell you depressing things you don't need to know," she said softly. Cedric looked at her, his big brown eyes showing great concern.

"Wyn…" he said. Wyn turned away from him. He kept pestering her.

"If you want me to go, just tell me to bloody go!" she shouted. When she didn't get a response, she stalked out of the Hufflepuff common room, leaving a multitude of very confused Hufflepuffs in her wake. She heard footsteps behind her.

Turning around a corner, she headed as quickly as she could back to the Gryffindor common room. She was not telling Cedric. Kip had made her promise not to tell Cedric. He hadn't wanted him worrying. And that's exactly what he would do, being the true Hufflepuff he was.

Wyn felt someone grab her arm. Cedric whipped her around quickly so she was looking him in the eye.

"I know something is wrong. Please, tell me what!" she looked up at him, anger burning her vision.

"FINE! YOU WANT TO BE MISERABLE?" she said, she was going to regret this, and she knew it, "KIP ISN'T AT DURMSTANG."

"Why? That doesn't make any sense," Wyn calmed herself down a little bit, "Wynnie…" he kept pestering her.

"I'm not supposed to tell you."

"Like bloody hell, Elwyn," Cedric said, finally getting angry. She could feel herself getting angry all over again.

"Let go of my arm, Cedric," she hissed through gritted teeth.

"What's wrong?"

"HE'S NOT AT DURMSTRANG BECAUSE KIP IS BLOODY DYING!" she shrieked. Cedric looked stunned and dropped his grip. She turned around and sprinted down the hall, leaving a stunned and heartbroken Cedric to eat her miserable dust.

She flew into the Gryffindor common room and up to her bed. She pulled her curtains closed and put a closing spell around it. For the umpteenth time since coming to Hogwarts, she cried herself to sleep hours before dinner and soaked in her misery.

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Hermione walked into the dormitory after dinner and studying. She heard the muffled sobs of Wyn next to her. She tried to open the curtains, but to her dismay found that she had a very good closing charm surrounding her bed.

"Wyn," she said softly, "Calder is downstairs looking for you. He says something's wrong."

"Tell him I know," Wyn said, her voice obviously strained.

"Wyn, he looks like he's about to cry," Hermione said.

"Tell him that I'm going home tomorrow, and that he can join me if he pleases," Hermione sighed, but went downstairs to relay the message to Calder. Wyn heard some yelling and scuffling and moments later she heard someone knocking on the window. She immediately knew it was Calder, and flung the windows open.

"C'mon, Wyn," he said, tears in his eyes. She nodded and climbed onto his broom. He guided them back to his dormitory and lay down on his bed with her. The two slept like that all night, ignoring questions from the boys. They didn't matter right now; all that mattered were the words on that damned piece of parchment.

_He'll be going soon. _

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The next morning, Wyn felt pressure on her ring finger. She looked down at it, knowing very well what was happening.

It was glowing. Kip was leaving.

She woke Calder and showed him her ring. He immediately jumped out of bed, and when she dashed out of the common room, he asked no questions. He had already figured out where she was going. To get Cedric.

There were a million things Cedric didn't deserve, and not getting to see his best friend—Kip, practically his brother—dying was one of them. She ran down the hall and stood in front of the portrait, knocking frantically.

"Cedric! Anyone? Please let me in! Cedric has to come with me immediately!" she cried, hoping someone would hear her.

"Wyn?" a very confused Justin asked as he opened the portrait.

"No time! Where's Cedric's dormitory?" Justin pointed blearily at the second doorway. She ran up the stairs and looked around for a minute. One beds curtains were closed tight, and the other three held boys that she didn't know.

She tried to open the curtains to no avail. She muttered a counter-curse under her breath. To her relief, he hadn't been thinking too clearly when he put on the closing spell and she was able to un-do it with ease.

"Cedric?" she yelled, tearing the covers off of him.

"Ugh, what?" he said, clearly not thinking it was Wyn.

"It's Wyn. We need to go, right now."

"WYN?!" he screeched, rolling over and falling off of his bed, "What in the bloody hell…"

"No time, Kip is dying."

"So you told me last night," he said, anger in his voice.

"No. He has less than the rest of the day to live," she said, pleadingly.

"How do you…?"

"Calder and I have portkeys that tell us when we're needed," she said quickly, thrusting the ring in front of Cedric, "They're supposed to grow when Kip is close to dying," Cedric inspected the ring. He nodded at her. Grabbing his hand, she began to rub the stone. A second later they were standing in Kip's room, with Calder already sitting on his bed.

"Hey," Kip said weakly, "I was wondering when you were going to come. Thanks for bringing Cedric," Cedric looked up, tears in his eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me, Kip?" Cedric asked quietly, his eyes brimming with tears. Wyn squeezed his hand as Kip looked away from his best friend. With an equally quiet voice, he tried to explain.

"It was bad enough that Calder and Wyn couldn't fall asleep without worrying if they'd miss my death, I didn't want you to go through that, too," he said, a quietly pained smile on his face, "You'd worry more than they do. You're such a Hufflepuff," he laughed and Cedric turned white.

"Yeah, I guess I am…" he said, rubbing his neck. He grabbed Wyn's hand harder and squeezed it again. Wyn said nothing, but squeezed back, a slight smile spreading across her face.

The three Hogwarts student gathered around Kip's bed. Cedric and Calder were sitting next to each other on the foot, and Wyn had crawled into Kip's arms. They sat in silence, waiting for someone to come up with an appropriate goodbye. It was Wyn who spoke first.

"I suppose you'll be bad at writing from heaven," she said quietly, snuggling closer to her brother, "You were never good at writing."

"No, I guess I never was," Kip said, pulling his sister closer to him. He laughed a bit, as did Cedric. They never wrote each other over the summer, one would just show up at the others house. They were both horrible at owling each other.

"Promise you'll send us some signs?" she asked, not looking up at him.

"As many as I can," he said.

"Promise not all of them will be bludgers aimed at my boyfriends?" everyone laughed at this. Kip had realized when Wyn turned ten that she was going to be very… _popular._ They were at a pureblood party, and he had to fight off about ten older, horny guys. She had always looked several years older than she was. That night he had said 'Anyone who wants to hit on my little sister is going to get a bludger to the bloody face, and I hit pretty damned hard, so _back off!_' After that, any boy who showed an interest would get to play 'dodge the enchanted bludger' until someone saved him.

"I don't think I can promise that," he said, "But if there's an owlery in heaven, I'll have a long time to get used to writing more often," he grinned at his little sister. She was smiling, but openly crying. He looked up and Calder and Cedric, they were crying also. Cedric spoke up.

"He won't have to kill them from heaven. We'll be doing that for him," he grinned at Calder. Kip saw right through it and gave Cedric a look, making sure Wyn didn't see it.

"Fred and George don't have enough younger sisters to protect, and we all know Wyn is going to have horny teenage boys going crazy," Calder said with a mischievous grin.

"I resent that!" Wyn said, still crying, "Guys can go bloody screw themselves. More trouble than they're worth."

"Good," Kip said, "Continue to think that. Maybe then I'll be able to focus on signs other than bludgers."

Wyn rose from her brother's bed and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll be back in a second, I want to see my boys," she said, heading into other areas in the house in search for her little brothers. As soon as Wyn was out of earshot, Kip shot Cedric another look.

"It's slightly disgusting that you think my 11-year-old sister is hot," Kip said nonchalantly. Cedric turned bright red, and Calder nearly exploded.

"You're so see through," Calder said, "'Oh, Wyn! I need help with potions! Can you come to the Hufflepuff common room to help me and some of the guys with my potions essay?'"

"You really enlisted my little sister to help you with potions?" Kip said with a grin, "God, you're pathetic. Why don't you chase after someone else, at least for a few years?"

"I wasn't planning on asking her out or anything. But you lot have HELLA good genes," he said playfully.

"Calder?" Kip said.

"What?"

"Make sure that Cedric doesn't do anything with Wynnie until she enters fourth year."

"Can do, boss," he said, saluting him. Cedric laughed.

"You know, I'll be 17 then. Are you sure you want a 17-year-old boy who has been waiting for three years for the same person to be dating your sister?" Cedric said playfully.

"You say that like she'll definitely say yes," the brothers said, looking at him.

"Because she will," Cedric smiled. They lapsed into a comfortable silence, which was interrupted when Wyn came in, holding Radley and with Aiken in tow. Aiken looked up at Cedric and then at his brother.

"Why are we crying?" he asked, settling into Cedric's lap.

"Because your brother is going to leave soon," Cedric said sadly, looking at his best friend.

"That's what Mummy said," Aiken said, "Where are you going, Kip?"

"Somewhere where there's lots of chocolate," Kip said happily, smiling at his younger brother.

"Do I get to visit you?"

"No, Aiken. But I'll come back and get you, one day. And then we can go back and eat chocolate together," Wyn's eyes were overflowing with tears. She knew Kip had practiced this part every day since they had found out the disease was terminal, but it was the perfect thing to say to Aiken. Absolutely perfect. She put Rad on Calder's lap and crawled back into Kip's arms.

They sat in silence again. The boys got tired, and Wyn picked them up and took them to their rooms.

"Kip?" Cedric asked.

"Yeah?"

"I never had a brother."

"Yes you did, Ced," Kip said and smiled, "You've been my brother for as long as Calder," Cedric looked down at his best friend, the closest thing he had ever had to a brother. Cedric grabbed one of his hands and Calder grabbed the other.

"The Gryffindors are going to be devastated," Calder said, "The only one who is a better Gryffindor sweetheart is Wyn. And we all know she'll never take your place."

"Sure she will," he said, closing his eyes with tire, "She's an Adworth."

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So… Review, yes? PLEASE?


	3. Ass Kicking of the Slytherins

I must say, there wasn't much to change in this chapter 'tall. It was sad, it was heartwarming, it was bloody _long. _There wasn't much of Wyn's personality in it, except for the beginning. And, of course, her little ditty at the end. Don't you just love Freddie or George-o? I DO.

WOOT.

Once again, I ponder why I both putting these at the beginning of these chapters. I do not, nor will I ever, own HP. If I ever do own HP, I'm sure I'll just run around screaming until someone becomes afraid for their life and takes it away from me. Then I'll pout and be put in the loony bin.

But loony bins are fun… the rooms…

I won't usually do this, but it seemed so appropriate:

"It is not length of life, but depth of life."

_-Ralph Waldo Emmerson_

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Wyn was standing in her bedroom. Her eyes were still bloodshot from crying so much and the increasingly large black bags on her face showed that she hadn't been able to sleep since Kip had died. He had passed away in the best way possible, surrounded by everyone that he cared the most about. Wyn had been in his arms and Calder and Cedric had been draped over his legs. Their Mum and Dad both held his hands as he passed away. It hadn't hurt.

But she was still miserable.

Her parents had made all of them return to Hogwarts two days after he had died, and they had to answer to constant questions. What made it worse was everyone trying to comfort her. She didn't want to be comforted by anyone who didn't understand. She wanted to spend the nights in Calder's bed and the days talking animatedly about him with Cedric. She wanted to ask Fred and George to tell her about every single prank he had taken a part in, and she wanted to replicate them.

Instead, she was bombarded with questions, smothered by her brothers admirers, classmates, and friends, and told 'I know how hard this must be' by every person in the bloody world. But they didn't know. They had no idea. Absolutely no idea.

The funeral was today. She knew it was going to be a crowded ceremony; everyone loved Kip. Calder, Mum, Dad, Cedric, and Wyn were all supposed to speak at the burial, but Wyn had no idea what she was supposed to say. She had talked to Calder and Cedric about what they were going to say, but it didn't help her much.

Her closet was filled with clothes and many of the things in it were things that a traditional mourner would wear. But she didn't want to wear something that would have made Kip angrypeering at a black dress that showed a lot of cleavage. He had told her before he died that he didn't want everyone moping around all in black, acting like life was over. 'Life as you know it is over, yes,' Kip had told her, 'But life isn't. You won't stop living on my accord.'

She rummaged through her closet once more. At the back, she found Gryffindor T-shirt. On the front it had a lion, and on the back it proclaimed "House Cup Champions, 1988." Wyn stared at it for a bit, and then charmed it so it had Kip's picture underneath the lettering. The shirt now read "House Cup Champions, 1988. Kip Adworth, Beater, Responsible for the Serious Ass-Kicking of the Slytherins." She smirked and threw the shirt on along with a pair of baggy jeans. Kip's favorite pair of hers, as she recalled. He hated it when she wore fitted jeans. Feeling rather proud of herself, she bounded downstairs and into the common room. Calder, Fred, George, and Lee lead the procession of Gryffindors.

"Wyn," Calder said, "The funeral's today."

"I know. But the only things appropriate for mourning that I have show cleavage. Kip would come back from the grave and kill me. He would've liked this better," Cal smiled at her.

"Yeah, he would've," he slung his arms around his little sister. They heard snickering behind her.

"Man, Wyn," Oliver Wood said as he pointed to the back of her shirt, "Kip would've loved that. Think you can make me one with my picture on it?" Calder looked at her curiously. She turned around and let him read the back of her shirt. He laughed.

"God, you know him too well," she smiled at him.

"Well, I had to do something right. I've been avoiding doing my speech, so I'm gonna wing it. I'll end up sobbing and doing stupid things. Then I'll go after the firewhiskey…" she trailed off as Harry, Ron, and Hermione came up behind her. They were all wearing black except for Harry, who was wearing his Hogwarts robes.

He began to apologize, but Wyn held up her hand. "No. He would've liked it. Plus, you can do nothing wrong. You're the Quidditch team's secret weapon," she said, pulling Harry into a quick hug. He seemed taken aback by this, and blushed furiously.

"I didn't know you could go that red," Calder said.

"Oh, stop, Cal. Although," she laughed, "you're going redder than a Weasley," she said, linking arms with the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Come, now, funeral guests. I have a speech to make up, and I'd like to do it some time _before _I get on the podium."

She and Cal smiled at each other and held hands. All the Gryffindors did the same. Wyn quickly broke contact with Harry and rubbed the portkey. There was a pop, and they all found themselves in a very depressing graveyard.

Soon after, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws who wanted to honor Kip showed up in the same fashion. They all milled about, while Calder and Wyn went to where her parents and younger brothers were standing. Her Mum burst out laughing when she saw Wyn.

"Oh, Wynnie," she said, "Kip would've loved it."

She then went into pureblood mode, greeting all of her relatives. The looks she received for her shirt got darker and darker as became relatives became further and further related. When they finally came to Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco Malfoy, it didn't stop at glares.

"Mum, why did we come to the funeral of a blood-traitor?" Draco asked, pointing at Wyn's shirt.

"Shut up, Malfoy. God knows _I _don't bloody want you here. This _should _be reserved for people who _loved and respected_ Kip, not whiny, arrogant, self-obsessed little pricks like yourself!" Wyn said maliciously as Draco glared at her. Her Dad was having a similar argument with Lucius, while Narcissa was looking decidedly bored.

After about an hour, the ceremony started. Her Dad got up on the podium and cleared his throat.

"I have very little to say about my son," he Dad said quietly, "Except that he was a fabulous, fabulous, wonderful boy. He was sweet and loving, clever and intelligent, athletic and a bloody good beater. He was my son in every sense of the word.

"He will always hold a special place in my heart, because he was my first son. He was the first one to pick up a beater like his father, the first one to 'accidentally' drop his younger siblings, the first one I walked in on snogging. And the last, for the time being.

"I remember the day I realized he was more like me than his mother. I was more proud than I ever remember being before. He was looking at Calder in his crib. His Mum and I were exhausted, as Kip was just one and Calder was coming in on three months. He looked up at me and started screaming. I picked him up and put him in his crib, but he just kept on screaming. I finally left him in his crib, picked up Calder who he had woken up, and left. I came back ten minutes later and he was somehow in Cal's crib, grabbing a stuffed bunny that we had given to Cal to appease his screams the day before.

"Then he said his first word. 'Mine.' The entire thing—the screaming, crying, tired eyes—had been a ploy. He wanted his bunny back by any means necessary. My Mum tells a very similar story, eerily similar. I should've been furious, but he reminded me so much of myself that I just put Cal back in his crib and scooped Kip up. And I remember I told him, 'Yes, yours.'

"So, Kip, here you go," her Dad said, dropping a very dirty and worn stuffed bunny onto his casket, "Take the rabbit. You earned it. I love you, son," he got off the podium and went over to the casket. Kneeling, he kissed the rabbit on the forehead and went back to his seat. All of the women, and most of the men who knew him well, were crying.

Next was her Mum. She was already crying, so her voice was strained. Looking over the audience, she finally started. "Burying your child is not in the job description of a parent. Dealing with dirty diapers, constant crying, feeding, and potty training is. Teaching your child how to walk, talk, and the difference between right and wrong is. Listening to them complain viciously about school, teachers, and peers is. Dealing with their first date, their first kiss, their first hook up, their first break up, is.

"But nothing in any parenting book can prepare you for hearing that your son is terminally ill. Nothing tells you what you're supposed to do for your son's funeral. The arrangements, the casket… It's not right that I'm speaking at Kip's funeral. He should have spoken at mine. It's the natural order of things.

"Alas, Kip would hate me wallowing like this. What I mean to say is that I have no idea what I should do for my son's funeral, no idea what to say as we lay him to rest. So," she got off of the podium and walked over to the casket. Conjuring up a bludger, she dropped it into Kip's grave. She got on the podium and continued, "Kip, use the bludger wisely. You know I never gave you a bludger in my life. That was all your father's doing. I love you, Kip. No amount of trouble or 'disgrace,'" she sneered at the word, "could make me love you any less. You were all we could ask for in a son.

"I'm sure there's a Quidditch field in heaven. And I'm sure you never leave it. Make sure you win a couple games for us, okay?" she finished up, walking over to the casket and letting her fingers run down it like they had a million times before. Finally she said, "Goodbye, Kip. I love you," tears were running down her Mum's cheek. She sat down next to Wyn and hugged her daughter. They say there like that, crying silently and embracing each other to close the gaps in their hearts.

Cal went up next, still crying. He looked tired and nervous. "Kip was my brother and my best friend, and I had no idea how to honor him. He was the sweetest, most genuine person you could ever meet. I tried to think of something that only the two of us ever had in common. The one thing we could only talk about to each other," Calder summoned a guitar, "It took me a long time to think of it, but it finally hit me that it was song," he looked at the casket, "It was one of his favorite songs.

I hurt myself today To see if I still feel I focus on the pain The only thing that's real The needle tears a hold The old familiar sting 

_Try to kill it all away_

_But I remember everything._

_What have I become_

_My sweetest friend_

_Everyone I know goes away_

_In the end_

_And you could have it all_

_My empire in the dirt_

_I will let you down_

_I will make you hurt._

_I wear this crown of horns_

_Upon my liar's chair_

_Full of broken thoughts_

_I cannot repair_

_Beneath the stains of time_

_The feelings disappear_

_You are someone else_

_And I am still right here._

_What have I become_

_My sweetest friend_

_Everyone I know goes away_

_In the end_

_And you could have it all_

_My empire in the dirt_

_I will let you down_

_I will make you hurt._

_If I could start again_

_A million miles away_

_I would keep myself_

_I would find a way._

"I suppose he could've picked a happier favorite song, couldn't he?" he laughed a bit through his tears, "But I guess that's Kip.

"G'bye, Kip. I love you, and we all miss you," Calder stepped off the podium and the guitar disappeared. Without missing a beat, Cedric went up. He quickly flicked his wand, and his black tuxedo turned into a red and gold Gryffindor House Quidditch Team sweatshirt and jeans.

"I came today trying to pay my respects for Kip Adworth, my best friend. But I was reminded while sitting next to Elwyn that Kip didn't want us to be sad. He didn't want us to mope around in mourning clothes and cry. He wanted us, more than anything, to be happy. I don't know how he expects that much out of us, but he does.

"Not that wearing Gryffindor team merchandise makes me happy. Actually, it kills me. They beat us by 180 points last season. But this is what Kip wanted. He wanted me to wear the Gryffindor team colors, so I will. I would do anything for Kip. Walking across the world and back wouldn't seem like so much for Kip. Not like anything at all. I would do it a thousand times to him smile, to spend an hour in his company. And that's when he was alive.

"When Kip was dying, I told him I had never had a brother. We had that conversation before, and I had told him I wanted what he and Cal had, what Aiken and Radley will have when they get older.

"Kip reminded me that I did have that. I was his brother. He told me that I'd been his brother for as long as Cal had. I never thought about it, but I suppose he was right. Kip was always right," Cedric wiped a tear away from his face, "Always. Perfection. It should have been annoying, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.

"And he was perfect, wasn't he? He was smart, bloody smart, that's why I'm still passing my classes. He was perhaps the greatest study partner ever. He was good-looking, too. I mean _really _good looking. So good-looking he always had a flock of girls around him. Nice, too. Awfully nice. To a fault, I think. He knew the names of every single girl who followed him and would help anyone at any time. He would play pranks, he was a bloody good prankster, but he would always end up apologizing profusely.

"He really should've been in Hufflepuff. He would've been a very smart Hufflepuff, and a very brave one, but he was abnormally nice for a Gryffindor. Ask the poor Gryffindor first years, I'm sure Fred and George have almost killed all of them at least twice," there were snickers in the audience.

"Four times," George called out.

"Really, Cedric. You should know that."

"It'll be up to seven by June," everyone smiled and laughed through their crying.

"Right, four, sorry," Cedric said, "Kip always knew the right thing to say, too. He never doubted himself or his friends. In his eyes, we were all invincible. I feel like I should be bitter than he was that perfect. But I'm not. I miss it. I miss being able to go with him for anything and knowing he'll be able to make me feel better. I'm sure my grades will miss his guidelines when I'm studying.

"I actually tried to find him after he died so he could make me feel better. I honestly thought that if I looked for him, I would find him and he could make everything go away. He could always do that. I suppose I'll have to find a new support system now. Or maybe not. Maybe there's a reason Kip left us now. There must be one, I suppose. Perhaps that's it. Perhaps Kip was here to teach us all about something that is even more important than charms, potions, transfiguration, or even defense against the Dark Arts: ourselves. Ourselves and others. He was here to teach us all a lesson, and I'd like to think we learned it. I'd like to think that's why he died. He'd done his job, and God decided he needed his help somewhere else.

"I hope that's it. I hope Kip's still around in spirit, because the world was a better place because of his soul. And if that's the case, I sincerely hope I run into him again. But if I don't, that's okay. He has already done his part with me. It would be selfish of me to think that I deserve more than what he has already given me. A loving second family, a group of irreplaceable friends, grades that would let me into any job in the world, a best friend.

"A brother."

There wasn't a dry eye any more, save for the Malfoy's, who were looking quite bored. Cedric walked over the casket and put his hand on it.

"I love you, Kip. And I miss you more every day," Cedric said as he sat back down. With that, Wyn sighed and got up.

"Erm, I wish I was a good liar. 'Cause I'd be able to say that I wrote a speech for today. But I've always been a horrible liar. So, I didn't write a speech. I'm winging this," Wyn looked out over the audience, her eyes settling on Justin, Hannah, Mandy, Anne, Ernie, Talon, and Susan. They sat together, all crying. Somehow, it made her happy. They didn't know Kip, but they were still crying. Everyone had done a good job of representing her brother's personality. She stood there for a moment, trying to decide how to honor her brother. Nothing was coming to her, but all of sudden she knew exactly what she needed to say. "I haven't played a prank just for the heck of it since we found out Kip was sick. It seemed appropriate at the time. But I've realized that pranking people helps me relieve stress. Odd, seeing as worrying about getting caught should make me more stressed, not less. Somehow, it's true. Mischief making calms me down.

"Kip didn't know that I wasn't pranking. I'm sure he just thought he wasn't getting the butt of it as much. But on the rare occasions he owled me, he'd ask me about my various pranking escapades, and I'd have nothing to say. There's something wrong when Elwyn Aderyn Adworth doesn't have a million pranks to inform her family about.

"I thought I had grown up. But I know I haven't. Not even close. Growing up is something that doesn't happen to pranksters. We mature, sure. But for true pranksters, no amount of maturing can replace the thrill of pulling off a stunt that would've made James Potter proud.

"I realized that this morning. Kip's sickness and eventual death forced me to grow up. But I am, just as he was, a prankster at heart. I'm not growing up. Kip's death should have a sobering affect on me, but it's not working out that way. I've been louder and happier today than I have been since we found out Kip was sick. Sickness made me sober, but somehow death has made me happy. Maybe it's because I know Kip was in great pain, or maybe it's because I know Kip isn't gone. His is body is gone, perhaps, but in soul and spirit he will remain with us forever. Because we all know Kip would never abandon us. He couldn't abandon anyone, no matter how much he hated them.

"But I don't think we'll hear from him too much. Kip was horrible at keeping in touch with people. During the school year, we were lucky if we got three letters from him. During the summer, dozens of letters would arrive for him, and he would only bother to answer them once a month. It drove people crazy, his family especially.

"The day he died, I told him I wanted him to send signs to us. So we knew he was watching us. He said he'd send as many as he could.

"I wanted to believe him—I still do—but I know that he won't. But he said that if there were an owlery in heaven, he would have a long time to get used to writing letters. He will, I suppose, but I highly doubt that ever be good at writing. Thinking about it, I should be sad. But I'm not. I guess I'd like to think the way Cedric thinks—he was here as a gift. He did his job. He loved us all, and he's heading somewhere else to do a world of good. I'd like to think that every once and a while we'll get a letter or a sign, but I know that they'll be rare occurrences.

"Kip, I am going to promise you a few things now. They may seem far-fetched, but nothing is too big or too hard for you. I am going to personally going to guarantee that Gryffindor will win the House Cup this year. I swear to gain as many points as I can for our house. I also solemnly swear that I am up to no good, and that I have the map with me to make troublemaking easier. I promise you on my honor that I'll study. I won't beat the bloody hell out of too many people—or at least I'll try not to. I'll make sure Cedric passes his classes, though I highly doubt he needs as much help as he says he does on that point. I promise that if I do ever become and illegal animagi that the first thing I'll do is kick professor Snape's ass.

"And," she wiped tears from her eyes, "I promise I'll visit you. I'll come as often as I can to talk. You don't have to listen and you don't have to be there, but I'll come to talk to you.

"I promise I will honor you as best I can. I won't try to fill in for you, because there is no one who could ever fill your place, but I will do the best I can. I will try to be a family rock like you were. I will try to make my heart as big as yours was. And, finally, I promise to be the Adworth you always thought I could be," Wyn stopped, she was crying harder than she had in a long time. She regained some composure and continued, "I—we—love you, Kip. We love you and we miss you more with every passing day. It'll be hard, but I suppose we'll learn to live without your laugh. No laugh like it, ever," she stepped off the podium like the speakers before her and went over to his casket. She ran her hand over it, "Bye, Kip," her eyes lingered on the casket. She paused before turning around and whispered so no one could hear her, "I guess it's really goodbye…"

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Later that night, Fred and George arrived with an armload of butterbeer. Wyn looked at them curiously and George said, "We want to send Kip off in a way that would make him bloody proud.

"Butterbeer?" asked Fred as she took one graciously.

"Kip hasn't snuck me one of these in _ages,_" she said, gratefully swallowing nearly the entire bottle in one gulp. The twins looked at each other. Quickly, they threw the butterbeer onto the floor.

"Wynnie is back!" they called, running up behind her and hoisting her onto their shoulders. She laughed.

"Wynnie is tired of being sad," Wyn said, downing the rest of her butterbeer, "Wyn would like to play a prank on Marcus Flint when she finishes another butterbeer. She remembers Kip said he hit him with the Furnuculus spell once."

"That he did," George said.

"Can arrange, Wyn," Fred added.

"Good," she hopped off of Fred and George.

"Where're you going?"

"To bed," she said matter-of-factly, earning even more stares as she hopped upstairs, "Honestly, knowing you two we'll be up all night with whatever scheme you come up with. I'm going to bed," she looked at their shocked faces with glee. _God, _she thought, _this is too good to be true. _Grabbing a huge imitation spider, she enchanted it to move.

Five minutes later, she heard screams from downstairs. She rushed down in time to see Ron freaking out and going into a fit. Hermione came to the rescue, muttering something about "big, fat, red-headed babies," but burst out laughing when she picked it up.

"WHAT?!" Ron screeched, jumping farther away from the spider.

"It's fake. It's been enchanted to run around like a real spider," she held it up in front of him as he went white and started running away. Hermione quickly cast a counter-spell and walked away. Fred, Geroge, Cal, and Lee were all looking at one another, trying to figure out who had come up with it. Wyn burst out laughing, as all the boys turned and looked at her.

Ron stormed back into the room to see Wyn nearly dying of laughter, using a hysterical Lee for support. It wasn't working too well, and they soon joined Fred, George, and Cal on the floor. Ron ran over, picked up the imitation spider, and thrust it into the fire. That only made them laugh harder.

"Bl-b-bloody h-h-e-ll, R-ron," Wyn tried to say more, but gave up, rolling around on the floor.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with her?" Ron asked his older brothers.

"Nothing."

"She's back to normal," they said happily.

"_That's_ normal?" Ron squeaked.

"Yup."

"Sure is."

"She's a weird one."

"That's why we love her," Harry and Hermione came up next to Ron.

"Is something wrong with Wyn?" Hermione asked, "She was going on about what Professor Snape would do if she replaced all the Hog Hair with Green Toad Warts."

"Nope."

"She's back to normal," Calder came over as well, glancing suspiciously at Fred and George.

"You two look happy," he commented.

"Wyn's back."

"Normal again."

"By the way-"

"We're pranking Marcus Flint-"

"_Tonight_."

"Wyn's idea," with that Fred, George, and Calder wandered off, deep in thought about the latest prank.

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I got a complaint about Kip's favorite song from one of my friends. To this I respond: But 'Hurt' is the greatest song _ever_!

Review, muchas pleases and gracias. (Don't you love my Spanglish that makes no minute amount of sense?)


	4. Not Just for Boggarts

This is one of the chapters that I changed the most, just so Wyn did not just conveniently figure out…

Well, I guess if you're a new reader then I shouldn't just blab out what I put in this chapter, now, should I?

DRAT YOU.

Well, wait, actually, NO! I LOVE YOU FOR READING THIS! REVIEW!

Can you believe that I'm not the talented and wonderful JK? Oh, you can? Ruin my fun, why don't you.

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Wyn sat in the same compartment she had sat in since first year. She was lying with her head on Talon's lap, chatting with Hannah and Mandy. Ever since first year, the four had been inseparable. She was friends with her Gryffindor year mates, but Talon, Hannah, and Mandy were her best friends. Because of this, she hung out with the other Hufflepuffs: Ernie, Justin, Susan, Annie, and Fiona. Mandy was a Ravenclaw and had no friends in her house besides Luna Lovegood, a character the group had adopted second year.

She sighed and burrowed deeper into Talon's lap when the conversation turned to the 'absolutely dreamy and completely and utterly gorgeous' Cedric Diggory, when suddenly the door to their compartment flew open to reveal the object of their discussion.

"Elwyn Aderyn Adworth, you did not come and see me!" Cedric said as he ran over to her and scooped her up from her spot on Talon. He didn't notice the rest of the now very intimidated looking group until he had swung her around for about five minutes and tickled her mercilessly. They had seen this for the past three years, but he was a little over zealous today. Plus, they never got over Cedric. Ever.

Susan, Annie, Ernie, and Justin wandered over to talk to the rest of the group from their own compartment and caught the spectacle.

"No need to pull out the full name. I would've seen you… eventually… Just like I saw you first, second, and third year," she said, indignantly, "Now put me down, Cedric Rupert Milford Diggory!"

"You didn't just say Milford, did you?"  
"Mhmm," she snickered, "What ya gonna do about it, MILFORD?"

"Damn it, Wyn, I knew I never should have told you my full name! That isn't common knowledge!"

"Oh," Wyn said, waving her hands around airily, "Fred and George will have it up on a banner the second Calder tells them," Cedric glared at her and put her down gracefully next to Talon.

"You know I won't take that," he said, a slight frown spreading over his face.

"Shut up, Cedric," she said playfully, pushing him towards the door. He looked at her with mock indignation.

"Wyn! Pushing me out of your compartment after only a few minutes! I'm ashamed! I demand to be allowed to stay here longer!" he said.

"Get out, Cedric," Wyn said.

"Aw! But Wynnie, there's scary people out there!" he said, pointing to the large array of 12-17 year-old girls standing outside of their compartment, glaring at Wyn. Wyn laughed and slugged Cedric teasingly.

"Ced, not to be a prick, but I saw you snogging with _at least _three of those girls this summer. You can't mind them that much," she said. Cedric smiled at her.

"Well, yes, I believe I had a nice snog with Kate, Lilac, and Veronica this summer but—" he said. Wyn cut him off.

"No buts. Go find one of them to annoy. I'll see you later, Ced," she said. Cedric frowned at her.

"If I'm leaving with me, you'll be sitting with my mates and I tonight at dinner," he pouted. Wyn rolled her eyes.

"Half of my friends are in Hufflepuff, anyways," she said indignantly. "I always sit at the Hufflepuff table. I just don't seek you out. You can come seek me out, if you're that desperate this year."

"Aw, Wyn. You make me sound like I have no life."

"Well, considering your 'life' consists of Quidditch, homework, and having a halfway decent snog whenever you can squeeze in the time, I would say you don't have much of a life, Diggory," she said, smirking.

"That was below the belt, Adworth," he grimaced.

"Then run to your fan club for support," she said as she pushed him out of the compartment and into the aisle.

"MEH! WYN!" Cedric said as he started scrambling. In response, Wyn shut the compartment door in his face and closed the curtains.

"I'm sleeping now," she informed Talon as she laid down on his lap.

Two hours before the train arrived, Wyn woke up. She sighed, sat up, and stretched. She found Talon smiling at her.

"'Ello, luv," he said.

"Hello," she said. "I'm going to go change and then talk to the trio," Talon nodded at her reference to Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, "And probably Fred, George, Cal, and Lee while I'm at it," she looked at Hannah and Mandy who had already changed. Instantly, Hannah got up.

"You're going to see George?" she asked, out the door before Wyn had even stood up.

"God, be a bit more obvious, Hey-Hey," looking at Mandy she said, "And I suppose you want to go see Cal," Mandy blushed a shade of crimson that Wyn had thought was reserved for Weasley's. She nodded and walked out to get Hannah before she waltzed into the boys' compartment without Wyn.

"Thanks, Wyn," Mandy said quietly. It was quite funny, really. Mandy was usually the more outgoing of the two girls, but when it came to boys, Mandy became horrible, horribly shy, while Hannah found her inner bubbly blonde princess. Wyn heard a snort from behind her and turned to Talon.

"So, you gonna go see the others?" she asked him. He got up from the bench.

"I s'pose. What else am I supposed to do, with you three out ogling and all," he said, laughing.

"I'm not ogling, I'm going to talk to my other friends. Because," she said with a smirk, "I, unlike you, _have_ other friends."

"Wow, Wyn, that was harsh. I think just for that I'm going to fall in love with Pansy Parkinson this year," they smiled before they headed their separate ways.

"Oi! Girls!" Wyn called out, "I have to get dressed before you embarrass yourselves in front of the boys!" both Hannah and Mandy turned bright red before following Wyn to the dressing rooms.

Hannah and Mandy were talking animatedly about Cedric all the way to the dressing rooms, the entire time she changed, and the entire way to the boys' compartment.

"He's not that great," Wyn finally said, "Really. I promise. He's just like any other guy—"

"Except he's sweet—"

"And beautiful—"

"And smart—"

"And perfect," Hannah finished as Wyn stuck out her tongue at the two of them.

"We're going to the boys' compartment first so you don't have to sit through my conversation with the trio. So I'd suggest you don't spend the whole time with your respective crushes—"

"Whoa, whoa. _I'm _here to see George, who does Miss Manna fancy?" Mandy blushed the same shade of crimson she had before. She mumbled something inaudible, and Hannah immediately turned to Wyn.

"My brother," she said quickly, as Hannah squealed, "Now shut up. Their compartment is coming up," both of the girls became silent. Wyn sighed, "God, not silent. That's not normal."

"Well, if you'd specify a bit, we wouldn't have to—" Hannah was cut off as Wyn threw open the compartment.

"WYNNIE!" Fred screeched as he jumped over to her.

"Hullo, Wyn," George said calmly as he eyed Mandy and Hannah, "Who are your friends?"

"Fred, George, Lee, these are two of my fourth year friends, Hannah Abott and Mandy Brocklehurst. Hannah's a Hufflepuff, Mandy's a Ravenclaw. Manna, Hey-Hey, these loons are Fred, George, and Lee. And you know Cal."

"Pleasure," Fred said.

"Hullo," George said amicably.

Lee, however, was a bit more obvious mood. He motioned for Wyn to come closer, and whispered: "The blondie fancies one of the tornados, and the one with the brown hair prefers your brother. Am I right?" Wyn started laughing.

"God," she said, "Fred, George, Cal, you should take perception classes from this one. Bloody genius with body language," Lee smiled.

"I take it that I'm right," he said.

"Too right, ole chap. Too right," Hannah was looking at her, obviously confused, while Mandy, the smarter of the two, had already figured out what Lee knew and was blushing madly.

"So, you two are the reason Wyn never stays in the common room for more than five minutes without mumbling about going back to the Hufflepuff common room, eh?" Fred asked with a mischievous smirk. Hannah smiled.

"You better bloody believe it," she said, "Although it probably helps that Cedric and Justin would both die if Wyn was out of their view for more than two hours. Unless, of course, they're sleeping. Then she's permitted ten hours without dashing into the common room un-announced. Or flouncing into their bedrooms," Cal shot her a look that she ignored.

"Oh, shut up, Hey. Besides, if I were going to go to see any Hufflepuff guy, it would definitely be Talon. He's a million times more fun than Cedric or Justin. They're… perfect. It's boring. Talon is mysterious and shy, plus, he has yet to hit on me. And his name, Talon Moon. Tell me that is not that best name in the world," Hannah opened her mouth, but Wyn said, "You're lying. It's the greatest name ever."

"As fascinating as this all is," Cal said sarcastically, "I don't need to know about my kid sister's male fantasies. Please."

"You give me too much credit, my dear sweet brother. I have never had 'fantasies' about Talon. Just because _you _are a pervert doesn't mean that I am. And Lee, you did not drop anything, sit back up. The lot of you are disgusting," Wyn said, but laughed anyhow.

"Why are you here if we're so disgusting, then?"

"Because Cedric bombarded me, and I highly doubt I'll be sitting with the Gryffindor's tonight. I figured I'd give you a chance to see me," she said quickly.

"Righto, kid," he said fondly.

"Okay then. I'm gonna go talk to Ickle Ronniekins, Poofers, and Lightning Boy," she turned to Mandy and Hannah, "Talon is in the other compartment, so you can do whatever. I'll sneak away from the Gryffindor table at dinner and come talk to you guys."

"M'kay, Wyn," Mandy said, practically running out of the room and dragging Hannah with her.

"Really, Wyn, what was that all about?" Cal asked.

"Ask Lee," she said, "But Lee, you're not to mention Manna. I'll be forced to kick your arse all the way to next Sunday if you do. Understand?" Lee snickered.

"Fine, fine. But the blondie I can talk about, right?"

"You can say whatever you want about Hannah. Provided it's true," she shot him a pointed look and walked out of the compartment, heading further down the corridor. She quickly found Harry, Ron, and Hermione's compartment and entered it quickly. They were deep in conversation and stopped as soon as she entered.

"It's alright. I'm sure I already know," Wyn said, "Something about the Quidditch Cup? The attacks? Malfoy being a jackass?" Harry laughed.

"No, not quite," Wyn looked at him quietly.

"Ok," they were all quiet for a moment. "So, my Mum got contacted by Sirius Black," she said quietly. Harry shot up in his seat, and Ron and Hermione exchanged worried glances. Wyn shifted in her seat uncomfortably, realizing only now how hard this was going to be.

"What the hell?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, erm, my Mum is one of the only ones left…" she said quietly.

"What do you mean, 'one of the only ones left'?" he asked again, his eyes burning. He… he did know, didn't he? She was sure that he knew about Sirius… but the way he was acting, it seemed as though he had no idea what had actually happened. She raised her eyebrow at his tone of voice and he pushed himself into the corner of the seat.

"You don't know?" she asked him softly. He eyed her rather suspiciously.

"Tell me what you know," he said stiffly. Ok, so did he not want her to know? Did he want it to be his secret, or something?

"Well—er, my parents were a couple of years older than James and Sirius and that lot, but they were friendly. And, well, you know what happened to your parent's friends. Peter died, Sirius got carted off to Azkaban, Remus believed Sirius' guilt. There were a few other girls in their year, but one disappeared in 6th year, one married a muggle and ended up dying in a car crash, and a death eater killed the last one about a year before your parents. So, last year, when Sirius escaped, he turned to my Mum before anyone else. She didn't tell me until she was sure, though," she said. Harry looked at her blankly.

"You Mum was friends with my parents?"

"They were the only large age-difference group that got along. My Mum and Alice, and the boys in their year."

"Good to know," Harry said coldly, looking out the window. "When was the last time she got a letter from him?" he asked.

"Well, uh, I think it was right after he left Hogwarts. I don't think he's risking owling anymore. Not that I blame him," she said. Harry continued looking out the window. He seemed reluctant to say anything, but after a long moment he spoke.

"Yeah. I've heard from him," he said quietly. Wyn nodded, though Harry wasn't looking at her, so it didn't matter.

"That's good. My Mum will be happy that he's all right. She's been worrying nonstop since his letters stopped coming… that's why she finally told me," Wyn said. "She figured that he was still in contact with you, and she… she wanted to know if he was all right. I'm sorry if you… er…" she faltered. What was she going to say? 'I'm sorry you're being kind of unreasonable right now and are mad at me for knowing about Sirius, but if you forgive me, I'm here to talk'? She stopped and looked at him. The scenery out the window seemed to be particularly interesting today…

"Uh… okay. So, if you want me to go, I'll just leave then," she said quietly, getting up to leave the compartment. Harry said nothing, and Hermione was glaring at him. When Wyn reached the door, Hermione blew up at Harry.

"You're being unreasonable, Harry!" she said swiftly. Wyn cringed. She wasn't happy about how Harry was acting, but she didn't want to start a fight between the trio, either. They got very, very irritable when they were fighting.

"Stop it, Hermione," he said softly. Wyn closed her eyes and waited for Hermione to blow. Before it happened, Ron tapped her on the shoulder.

"Might wanna get out of here, Wyn," he said relatively calmly, though his fiery blue eyes were giving him away. Wyn just barely nodded before she heard Hermione yelling at him.

"Honestly, Harry! She's just trying to help! What've you got against it, anyways? If Sirius trusted her Mum with that information, then she's to be trusted! And if her Mum trusted Wyn with it, then there's nothing we can do about it. Besides, there are very few people in the world that I would trust with a secret like that besides Wyn! What the bloody hell do you think you're doing, acting like a complete git about it?" Wyn put her hand on the compartment, but she couldn't bring herself to push it open. She turned around to see Hermione standing over Harry, her face red with anger. Ron was standing next to Harry. They both looked furious.

"It's Sirius! He's the only family I have left. What if something happens to him? What if he's been sending Wyn's Mum letters, and the Ministry has intercepted them? Huh? What will happen then? I can't lose him Hermione, not so soon after I've found him!"

"That's a risk when he's writing to _you _Harry! Probably more of a risk when he's writing to you! Who bloody _cares _if the Adworth's are getting mail? No one. Who cares if Harry Potter is getting mail with no sender and no return address? The Ministry, that's who. You can't honestly think that it's not dangerous for Sirius to be keeping in contact with you!" Harry looked at Hermione angrily. Wyn, however, looked down at her feet. They went on arguing for a while before Wyn poked her head up.

"Um, if I can just say something…?" she said. Ron looked at her, startled, while Hermione and Harry kept on yelling at each other. After Ron had looked at her for several moments, he poked Harry in the side.

"Mate," he said.

"WELL I DON'T KNOW, HERMIONE, WHY DON'T YOU BLOODY—" Harry whipped towards Ron. "What?" he hissed.

"Wyn." Harry looked up at Wyn, obviously surprised. He turned slightly red and looked at Hermione, who was also looking very embarrassed.

"Look, I know this really isn't my business. But, uh, Harry? My Mum was the last one left who Sirius knew still believed in him. She went to go visit him in Azkaban once a year. He mentioned it in one of his letters. He probably just didn't know where to turn. Professor Lupin wasn't an option, he believed in his guilt. And he couldn't just go to you. What was he going to say? But my Mum believed in him through everything. It was a natural course of action for him to seek her help."

Hermione stopped looking angry and went to looking very pleased with herself in an instant. Harry didn't say anything for a moment, but looked down at his feet.

"I can't lose him, Wyn," he said quietly.

"Understandable," Wyn answered, her voice equally quiet. The room fell into a rather awkward silence before Harry spoke up.

"They were friends?" he asked, hope in his voice. Wyn smiled in spite of herself.

"Yeah. Your Mum and another girl in her year stayed with my Mum and Dad the summer they got married." Harry nodded slightly.

"Oh," he said rather sheepishly. Hermione smirked at Harry proudly.

"Feel stupid now, Harry?" she asked him. Harry glared at her and turned back to Wyn.

"Do you…"

"Sirius must be more important to you than anything I can even begin to imagine," Wyn finished for him. "So, no, I can't say that I understand, exactly. But I know, I guess," she said. Harry nodded again. Wyn sighed. Every part of her wanted to be mad at Harry, but she just couldn't be. She had no idea how much Sirius meant to him. Even the thought of possible harm coming to him must just be awful…

"I think… I think I'll go now," Wyn said quietly. Hermione smiled at her.

"See you at dinner?" she asked.

"Naw. Cedric has required that I eat with him and the boys. He is a bit of a prick, isn't he?" Wyn asked with a laugh.

"I do wish you'd eat with the Gryffindor's a bit more," Hermione said with an exasperated sigh.

"Yeah, but then the 'Puffs and Cedric would complain about how they don't get to see me as much as you guys do," she said. Hermione snorted.

"You practically live with the Huffelpuffs."

"Try telling them that," Wyn said with a smile. Hermione laughed.

"I suppose they're stubborn?"

"Oh, very stubborn," Wyn reached for the compartment door. She touched the knob, but turned back and looked at Harry. "Do you know much about your parents?" she asked. He looked at her strangely for a moment, but shook his head.

"Only what Professor Lupin and Sirius have told me, and it isn't much," he said, regret lacing his voice.

"I can tell you a lot about their friends," she said. "And probably more about your Mum than either Professor Lupin or Sirius can." Harry said nothing, but looked very hopeful.

"Oh," he said softly.

"Do you want to talk to me about it tonight in the common room?" he nodded. "Midnight, then, okay?"

"Yeah," he said shortly. She nodded at him.

"I'll see you guys soon," she said happily.

Wyn was barely out of the compartment when she heard sniggering behind her. She whirled around, by now very familiar with the aura behind her.

"Hullo, Adworth," she heard Malfoy sneer.

"Malfoy," she nodded curtly as she turned around, "Malfoy cohorts," she said, looking at Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy with disdain.

"Coming out from a long chat with Potter?" he sneered.

"Yes, actually, I am. And being the blood-traitor that I am, I'm now in the process of heading back to my compartment with my Hufflepuff friends. So if you'll excuse me, they expected me a long time ago," she turned around and kept walking.

"Still hanging around with those mudbloods, are you?"

"Yup. Muggle-born wizards that could kick your bloody arse."

"Not without their precious leader," Malfoy said coyly.

"Well then, I guess it's a good thing that I don't plan on abandoning them any time soon then, isn't it?" Wyn snarled, her hand automatically going down towards her wand.

"FLIPENDO!" Malfoy yelled out before she grabbed her wand. She effortlessly avoided the spell.

"Oh, really, Draco. Do be a bit more creative," Malfoy started to cast another hex, but Wyn was quicker.

"Petrificus Totalus," she said lazily. As she looked at his petrified state she added, "Riddikulus," instantly, Malfoy's hair grew about six inches. His chest and stomach grew as well, making him look a bit like Helga Parkinson, Pansy's mum.

Wyn nearly fell over laughing. A few people poked their heads out from the compartments, and soon it was filled with people dizzy with laughter.

"Riddikulus," Wyn said, leaning over Malfoy, "Is not just for boggarts. Have a wonderful time on the Hogwarts Express!"

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Didn't _you _ever wonder about Riddikulus? It couldn't be for the sole purpose of stopping Boggarts, that's just stupid. It must've had some other purpose, e.i: making your enemies look stupid.

You love my sense of humor, don't you? Come on, don't deny it!

…

…

Fine. I'll just leave and feel immensely unloved, then. No big deal. Really. I can deal with it.


	5. Hufflepuff's Sweetheart Gets Told

Some changes, not too many major changes though. By the end of tonight, I should have all the stuff that I've posted revised, and my next chapter should be out. LOOK AT ME GO!

Blah blah blah, JK Rowling chose not to give me a piece of the HP pie, blah blah blah. BLARGH.

…

Woot.

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"Oh my God," Wyn said, her eyes bulging, as Dumbledore explained about the Triwizard Tournament. She glanced down the Hufflepuff table to see many very excited-looking boys. More than she liked. The Triwizard Tournament was _dangerous!_ Didn't they even care? The only reason they had stopped holding them was because they hadn't had a tournament without someone dying in over a hundred years. Now they were going to have a bunch of adventure-crazed idiot-boys throwing themselves at the Goblet in order to taste some of the glory they had heard so much about, but never gotten to see.

Dumbledore continued talking and Wyn continued looking around. Everyone looked absolutely thrilled, it was making her sick. Fred, George, Cal, and Lee already had their heads together, scheming. Ron's eyes were lit up. Malfoy was sneering, obviously certain he would be chosen. Cedric was whispering amongst some of the older Hufflepuffs. No matter where she looked, she couldn't see anyone who looked worried.

Desperately, she looked up at the teachers. To her relief, none of them looked too happy, save for Dumbledore and Snape. _He's probably counting on someone dying, the little louse that he is, _she thought bitterly as she brooded.

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"What do you mean, you're putting your name in the Goblet?" Wyn screeched at Cedric several hours later.

"Who's going to pass an opportunity like this up, Wyn? This is a fabulous competition, and we're lucky to be a part of it. We should be taking advantage of it, and I bloody will!" Cedric snarled.

"I expected this out of my brother, the twins, and Lee, but Cedric, what in the hell makes you think you can live through something as dangerous as the Triwizard Tournament? They stopped them for a reason, you know! Too many people were dying! They hadn't had a death-free competition in over a hundred years when they decided to stop holding them!"

"Look, Wyn," Cedric snapped, "Do you really think that I'll be picked out of all the people who out there names in?"

"I don't know Cedric. They could do worse than you. Anyone else I would choose isn't 17 yet. You underestimate yourself to the point where it's infuriating sometimes, did you know that? You are a good wizard, Cedric. You are a good wizard and you are a good person and you're going to do something stupid like volunteer for a bloody competition where it's more than likely that you'll die! I'm all for getting to know students for other schools and helping foreign relations, but I don't want someone I care about to get hurt doing it," she said fiercely, plopping down on one of the common room couches and ignoring the looks she was getting fro the rest of the Hufflepuffs. He could _not _be serious. That was so stupid!

"No guts no glory," he said, with fierceness matching her own in his voice.

"Glory, glory, glory! You'd think that happiness comes in a little glory-wrapped package. Guess what, Cedric? IT DOESN'T! Happiness isn't as simple as being admired and respected. Happiness isn't something that can be won. Happiness _is._ You could get all the glory in the world from winning this competition. I won't deny that. But no amount of glory will fill whatever void you're trying to fill."

"And what void is that?" he asked.

"How the bloody hell should I know?"

"Well, you seem to think you know everything."

"You know what Cedric? Do whatever the bloody hell you want. It doesn't matter to me. Put your name in the bloody Goblet. Don't let the know-it-all stop you," she pushed past a very startled looking Cedric.

"That's it?" he called after her.

"If you're seriously looking for an argument, Cedric, try arguing with me about something that I don't care as much about!" she cried angrily, stomping up into the fourth-year boys dormitory. She heard Cedric calling to her, but she wasn't paying attention.

"Wyn?"

"PISS OFF, CEDRIC! DO WHATEVER THE BLOODY HELL YOU WANT TO WITH YOUR LIFE, BUT IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE A BLINKING IDIOT, LEAVE ME THE HELL OUT OF IT!"

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Soon after her explosion, her friends followed her up into the dormitory.

"Wyn?" Justin asked as he came up.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said angrily, brusquely brushing a tear from her eye.

"Are you sure?"

"Bloody sure," Wyn stared blankly at the wall.

"Cedric's a git," Anne said, as she came up behind her and gave her a hug.

"I've told you guys that for years. Never believed me," she said with a small chuckle.

"Hufflepuffs sweetheart has never been told off before," Talon said behind them. He seemed to be the only one who was genuinely amused by what had happened down there.

"Wipe that smirk off your face, Moon," Wyn said sulkily.

"I wouldn't be smirking if I thought that you two would stay mad at each other," Talon said matter-of-factly as he plopped down on his bed, "You two never stay mad at each other. By now Cedric is probably thinking of the best way to apologize to you and is swearing off the Triwizard Tournament," Wyn smiled.

"Well," Justin cut in angrily, "whatever he's doing, he's still a bloody git," Talon shot him a look.

"Not because of what he did down there, I take it?" he asked quietly.

"Nope. He's just a bloody git," Justin said as he flopped onto the floor, "That's all there is to it."

The group sat there for a while longer, their conversation flowing in and out of seriousness. It had been over an hour by the time Wyn went downstairs with the other girls. The girls hightailed up to their dorm and went started to leave.

"Why not?" she froze as she heard Cedric's voice.

"Whatever. Do whatever, Cedric. I don't want to talk about it. I have to get back to the common room. I have a meeting with Harry tonight," she said stiffly as she crawled out of the portrait.

"You really don't want me to do it?" he called after her. She answered him by slamming the portrait shut.

After a long night, Wyn headed back to the Gryffindor common room. It must've been close to ten o'clock, she had been too lazy and angry to check before she left. She wasn't as mad at Cedric anymore, but she was still brooding. He was so bloody stupid sometimes. Hurrying down the corridor, she came to the Fat Lady only to realize she had no idea what the password was.

"Damn it," she said quietly, "This is why I need to hang out with the Gryffindors every once in a while," sighing, she rapped on the portrait, much to the Fat Lady's protests. No one answered for a while. "Ugh! I KNOW SOMEONE IS IN THERE! IT'S WYN ADWORTH, AND I AM A GRYFFINDOR! LET ME IN!" after several minutes, Lavender Brown finally came and opened the portrait.

"Wyn, so nice of you to join us," she said sarcastically.

"Oh, screw off," Wyn said as she elbowed her way past Lavender. She had never liked her; she was fake and prickly and always had been.

"Maybe if you didn't spend so much time snogging with your boyfriend you would know the password," Lavender snickered as Wyn checked the clock. It was 10:45 now.

"I don't have a boyfriend," Wyn said, rolling her eyes.

" Perhaps you should tell your brother and his loony friends that you don't have a boyfriend, because they're pretty sure you do. I wouldn't hide it if Cedric Diggory was my boyfriend"

"I'm sure you wouldn't. And he isn't. Cedric Diggory is a bloody git," Wyn stood in the common room, glowering at Lavender.

"Okay then, Wyn. G'night," Lavender said as she went up to the dormitory. Wyn followed not too far behind, grabbing her pajamas and getting changed before grabbing her journal and heading down to the common room. She was busying scrawling when the clock struck midnight. Still busying scribbling, she hardly even noticed when Harry came in.

"Erm, Wyn?" Wyn looked up and smiled.

"Hey, Harry. Sit down," Harry sat across from her on his favorite chair.

"So, how much do you know about my Mum?" he asked eagerly, sitting on the edge of his chair and looking at her excitedly. She smiled at him.

"A fair amount, actually. My Mum and Alice Longbottom were best friends in school, both four years older than your mum and dad. When Lily entered school, she became rather attached to Alice because she was a sweetheart; from the way my Mum tells it. Alice was sweet and loving, kind, and intelligent. Lily, I think, reminded her of herself, except maybe a tad stricter.

"When your parents entered school, Frank Longbottom and Alice were the Gryffindor prefects. Because Lily immediately aspired to be one herself, she spent a lot of time around the two of them. When Alice started to like Lily as a friend, she brought her to talk with my Mum. But, once that started, my Mum and Lily had a more instantaneous connection than Alice and Lily had had. By the end of the year, Lily, Alice, my Mum, and another girl in your mum's year were tight.

"At the same time, Frank had always wanted to be a bit more like the Marauders. He always followed his mum's orders; he listened to her views, and did things to please her. He had never gotten into trouble for fear of what she would to do him, and so on and so forth. So, naturally, he was rather drawn to the four boys. Though he was a prefect, he soon got on the boys' good side, because he had a habit of not turning them in for their pranks. He found them too amusing. So, though they weren't good friends, they developed a mutual understanding. Frank would look over their pranks as long as he got in on a few of them," Harry's eyes were wide and excited, absolutely gripped in the story. Wyn stopped and chuckled at him for a bit. He came out of his spell long enough to scowl at her a bit.

"What do you know about my Mum?" he asked again, impatience ringing in his voice. "What did she like? What were my grandparents like? What were her favorite subjects?" Wyn laughed at him again.

"This is going to be a long night, Mr. Potter," she said with a smile. He smiled back at her.

"Just tell me," he said.

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Several hours later, Harry and Wyn were still sitting on their chairs in the Gryffindor common room. Harry was looking very content, closing his eyes and smiling into the air. It felt good to know that much about his Mum. His pleasant thoughts, however, were interrupted by Wyn.

"But I remember that my Mum said there was one thing she could never figure out about Lily," Wyn said. Harry opened his eyes and bolted upright, looking at Wyn expectantly. She laughed a bit.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Your father chased after her for years. Granted, he was a bit arrogant, but he was one of Hogwarts' hottest bachelors. She just never understood why she didn't even give him the time of day. Or, at least, why she couldn't, because whenever she tried she'd end up yelling at him.

"Whenever she saw her, she'd always tell her what she thought of James, and Lily would either ignore her or get mad at her for 'insinuating such nonsense.' But one summer when Lily was heading into fifth year, she came to our house talking about a boy for the first time ever."

"Who?" Harry asked eagerly, leaning forward in his chair. His bright green eyes were open with happiness. He thought he knew the answer.

"Severus Snape."

Harry looked at Wyn in disbelief. "No, my Mum didn't—she couldn't! SNAPE?" he squeaked.

"I don't know how it happened either, but my Mum said that one summer when Lily was visiting she started talking about him. They were potions partners, and they really… _liked _each other. From what I got out of this, sometime during fifth year Snape did something awful to her and she never forgave him. She completely ignored guys for a year, and started dating your dad in the middle of sixth year," Wyn looked at Harry, his mouth was wide open.

"Bu-bu-"

"I think it makes sense. Why did Snape hate your father so much? No one liked him, everyone teased him, ignored him, hexed him, made his life hell. Why was James Potter different? Because in his mind, he stole Lily. The only person he ever cared for. And for that, he could never forgive him.

"And why does he hate you so much? Well, you symbolize everything that could have been his. In his eyes, you should be _his _child. The fact that you look like James probably just makes it easier for him to hate you," there was a long pause from Harry.

"Snape?"

"Weird, I know. I've pieced together what I can without talking to him. From what I can tell, Snape was sorted in Slytherin because he was very sly and cunning. He wasn't evil, but he wanted revenge on someone. I suppose it was his father, because he was a muggle. After he lost Lily, he looked for anyone who would accept him. Though Dumbledore eventually sought his help, Voldemort asked him first. He was the first person besides Lily to treat him like a real person. He would've done anything for his Lord, but one day he did something wrong.

"He lost good word with the Voldemort, and he started treating him just like everyone else had. The reason Snape left Voldemort is I believe the same reason he joined him: he wanted revenge. I don't think Snape was ever evil, but there were only a few things that he wanted, and those things were acceptance and revenge. When he was denied acceptance in the last possible place, the Death Eater's circle, the thing that he wanted more than anything was to get revenge on those who had wronged him. That included Voldemort after he abandoned him.

"So he turned back to Dumbledore. I'm not sure what he did to convince him that he was good, but whatever he did, it worked. And you should know the rest of this," Harry stared at Wyn blankly.

They sat there in rather awkward silence for a moment before Harry started to head upstairs, looking very confused. Wyn, however, was looking slightly guilty. When Harry turned around and looked at Wyn, he noticed the slight furrow on her brow.

"What's wrong, Wyn?" Harry asked. Wyn sighed.

"I feel bad about not telling Neville all of this," she said softly. Harry climbed back down the stairs with a sigh. He really just wanted to sort the whole Snape thing out. Unfortunately, Wyn had just done a lot for him. He couldn't just leave her now.

"What?" he asked as kindly as he could manage.

"Didn't you notice all of the things I know about the Longbottom's?" she asked.

"Well, yeah, but Neville knows about his parents, doesn't he? After all, he lives with his Grams."

"Yeah, but I'm sure they didn't tell him stuff like that. Things about his parents that he'd really want to know, not just what his Grams liked about them. She liked that they were strong, loyal, brave, intelligent people, not about how they first met. Not about the disaster that was their first date. I'm sure those are the things he'd really want to know," she said, her voice strained.

"Like the things you told me about my Mum," Harry suggested. Wyn smiled.

"Those are the kinds of things that Professor Lupin and Sirius told you, aren't they?" she asked. Harry nodded. He looked at Wyn for a moment.

"Why do you feel guilty about it, though?" Wyn took a sharp breath. She sort of figured he was going to ask that. She just wasn't sure if she could answer. Her parents had always told her not to tell anyone, but she felt so guilty… didn't Neville deserve to know? Didn't he deserve to know his parents?

Before she had enough of a chance to doubt herself, she opened her mouth to speak. "I said Alice and my Mum were best friends. Well, my Dad and Frank were tight, as well. When Kip, Cal, and I were born, the Longbottom's were made our godparents. My parents are also Neville's godparents, so I'm his god sister. But, after his parents went mad, his Gran asked us to stay out of Neville's life, so he doesn't know," Harry looked at Wyn with some sort of understanding.

"Oh," he said softly. Wyn looked visibly relieved, as though she'd just had some huge weight lifted off of her.

"C'mon, Harry," she said, getting off the couch and extending her hand to him. "It's late, and I gave you a lot to think about. Get some sleep. Tomorrow we're getting our schedules, and you know how Hermione is about that," Harry smiled a bit and grabbed her hand. She pulled him up and they both went back to their dormitories.

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They both wanted to, but neither of them slept. And though Harry thought that he should be tossing and turning in bed because of what he had found out about Snape, he spent the entire night thinking about how happy he must've been as a baby. He wondered what would've happened to Neville if his parents hadn't gone mad. He thought of his dad and his mum, of Sirius and Professor Lupin. But mostly he sat in bed and imagined he didn't have the scar on his forehead.

Mostly he just imagined how life would've been if he could have been normal…

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The next morning, Wyn decided to sit at the Gryffindor table. She was bleary-eyed from her late night with Harry. When the schedules arrived, she compared with the trio. She had potions with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, astronomy with Harry, defense against the Dark Arts with Harry, and Ancient Runes with Hermione. She and Hermione were discussing the new runes they would be learning this year when Talon came up behind her.

"Hey, Talon," she said with a small smile. He smiled back.

"Hey, Wyn. Can I sit here for a bit?" he asked Harry. Harry nodded and scooted closer to Ron. Talon took his set and looked at Wyn for a minute.

"You all right?" he asked her gently.

"Yeah. Just, uh," Talon cut her off.

"It's fine. The girls just wanted to make sure you were okay. And your schedule, of course," he smiled.

"Yeah, sure," she scrawled her schedule on a loose piece of parchment and handed it to Talon.

"I'll be back in a few minutes to tell you who you have classes with," he said as he got up and left.

Hermione looked at her a sighed. "What did Cedric do this time?" Wyn blushed violently.

"He's being a prick. I don't wanna talk about it," she said, staring at her plate. Whenever Cedric did stupid things like this she would get quiet and shy. It wasn't like her at all, so people always knew when something was wrong.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure Poofers," she laughed as Hermione flinched.

"I do wish you'd stop calling me 'Poofers,'" she said with distaste.

"If Ron has to live with Ickle Ronniekins, then you can deal with Poofers," she said with a smile as she grabbed a piece of toast from Harry's plate.

"Why doesn't Harry have one of your horrible nicknames?" Ron asked pathetically.

"Scar Boy doesn't really roll off the tongue," she dismissed as she finished eating Harry's toast. She felt Harry shudder next to her.

"God, no need to remind people of what's on my forehead," he said.

"Blah, blah, blah. I would call you Scar Boy if I liked it, but I don't. Not cool enough. I'll think of something eventually, especially Cedric keeps going at this rate," everyone looked awkwardly at their plates. None of them really knew Cedric except for Wyn, and she hardly talked about him except to complain.

"Do you know how we can fool the Goblet, Harry?" Ron asked. Wyn could feel herself flinch.

"I'm, uh, not hungry anymore," she said quietly as she got up. "When Talon gets here, tell him I'll come to the common room at 12, okay?" Hermione looked at her oddly, but nodded.

"Okay, Wyn."

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Wyn was sitting in the common room, looking at the crackling fire. It didn't really need to be lit, but seeing the flames comforted her. The way they jumped and danced, the way they licked the bricks of the fireplace, was just amazing. She stared happily at the fire, letting herself forget everything that was worrying her. The calm that always came when she was with the fire took over, and before she knew it she had gone to get her journal. Surprisingly, Cedric never entered her thoughts. She wrote for a long time about Neville, and for even longer about Harry.

"Hey, Wyn," Wyn looked up and saw Hermione watching her.

"Hey, Poofers," she glanced at the clock. "You should still be at breakfast."

"Yeah, but I wanted to talk to you."

"About Cedric?" Hermione paused.

"Well—yeah," Wyn sighed and looked back into the fire. Hermione sat down across from her.

"He wants to put his name into the Goblet," she said quietly, "I don't even know why I care about it so much, but if there's one thing I've learned since coming to Hogwarts it's to trust my guts. I know nothing good will come of him competing in the Triwizard Tournament, I just know it. But…" Wyn trailed off.

"Keep talking, Wyn," Hermione encouraged her.

"He's practically my brother. That's it, isn't it? He-" she paused, "he's so much like Kip," Wyn could feel her eyes welling with tears. "He's just like Kip. They did everything together, they were absolutely inseparable. I've never thought of him as a brother, he's always just been my friend, but he keeps Kip alive. If he left, I don't know what I'd do. He's the last thing that connects me to Kip. I still go and see his grave, and I know Cal looks jut like him, but no one is like Kip like Cedric is. If something happened to him…"

"Just because he does the Triwizard Tournament doesn't mean he'll die," Hermione said quietly. But, she got off of the chair across from her and squished in with Wyn. "Guys are such idiots," she said and hugged her.

"Yeah," they sat in silence for a long time, and Wyn let the flames engulf her again. She banished her journal and stood up. It was getting close to noon, and she wanted to talk to her Hufflepuff friends.

"You all right?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah. Thanks, Poof," Hermione smiled a bit.

"You're not going to give that up anytime soon, are you?"

"Course not. I'm gonna go talk to the 'Puffs, I'll see you at lunch, Poof," she started out the portrait, "And I mean it. Thank you. It really helped. At least I know why I'm so mad at him now," she smiled weakly and left.

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More changes about the Marauders & Co., but not much else. Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. RIGHTO, MATEYS.


	6. Majesty Cedric

This is a short chapter, and very, very little has changed. Oh well. Too bad for… well, whoever cares. Most of the major renovations happened in a few select chapters.

Not mine, yadda yadda, Mefmen, ta ta, watch me rawk it, live to see the day, blargh.

Got that?

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Wyn was wandering down the halls that lead to the Hufflepuff common room. She didn't need to be there immediately, and she knew Cedric would be in there when she arrived. More than anything, she wanted to put off her encounter with Cedric for as long as possible. It was looking like that wasn't going to be very long.

Not much further to the common room now. In a few minutes, she would have to face him. She wouldn't talk to him, she had enough willpower not to talk to him, but God, it was going to be hard. All she wanted to do was scream at him. She could scream at him for hours and never be done. Not even close.

Knowing why she was so mad at Cedric had helped a little bit, but not much. Not much at all. It made her angry. He had been dead for three years! He was gone, and she knew it. But part of her knew that there was a big part of Kip in Cedric. She couldn't lose that part of him, she would hang onto that piece of Kip until her dying day, but if Cedric left her first… She rounded the last corner, the portrait was in sight.

"Hullo, darling," the portrait said sweetly.

"Hello. Green goblin pansies," she said. The portrait opened and Wyn walked inside. Talon and Ernie were sitting by the fireplace, talking in hushed tones. Wyn didn't see any of her other friends there, so she went over and sat next to Talon.

"Hey," Talon said. Ernie nodded and smiled.

"Hey, Where is everyone? Did you tell them that I was gonna come to look over schedules?"

"Yeah, I did. I think they're at the lake," Wyn sighed and hunkered down.

"Why didn't you guys go?"

"Got guy stuff to talk about," Ernie said quickly. Wyn raised her eyebrow.

"'Guy stuff'?" Talon gave her a sheepish smile.

"Erm, yeah. Just some guy stuff, that's all," Talon said, barely containing a laugh.

"Who's got Ernie's panties in a twist this time?" she asked. Ernie blushed.

"Erm, uh… no one?" Ernie tried to lie.

"Pft. Who is it? I'm friends with almost everyone. I'm sure I could talk to them," Talon whispered something to Ernie, who looked skeptical, but nodded eventually.

"I—erm, I mean, I kind of…"

"Out with it boy!"

"It's… do I HAVE to?" he asked Talon. Talon rolled his eyes.

"It's Susan," he said quickly. Ernie blushed an even deeper shade of red.

"SUSAN?" Wyn shrieked. She nearly fell out of the chair, "Bloody hell! What do you mean, Susan?"

"I, er, I fancy Susan," he mumbled, very aware of all the eyes that were now on them. Wyn, however, had never noticed such things as people staring. She looked thoughtful for a while.

"Nice, Ernie," both Ernie and Talon looked surprised.

"Wait, what?" Talon asked.

"It's a nice choice. She's sweet and smart and—"

"Yeah, we know. But aren't you mad? Susan's one of our best friends and he _fancies_ her!" he said.

"Happens to the best of us, mate," she said with a smile. "Justin's had it for me since first year, and we all know it. We're still friends. He doesn't act on it because he knows I don't feel the same way. If he started acting on it, things could get awkward, but he's smart about it. You just have to be smart about it, Ernie. Don't do anything stupid. I can help you, but you can't be as hopeless as you have been in the past," Talon looked at her incredulously.

"You're supporting this?"

"Why not? They'd be cute," she laughed. Talon frowned.

"Okay, if you think it could work…"

"'Course it'll work," she said happily, "Just gotta know how Susan thinks. And boy, did you come to the right person for that! I know Susan better than I know myself, which, come to think of it, really isn't that hard, as I change my mind about everything about every one or two minutes" she said with a grin. She had just leaned over to start scheming when the portrait door swung open to reveal none other than Cedric Diggory. Wyn quickly scrambled off the chair and squirmed in between Talon and Ernie on the loveseat. They both gave her a look, but kept on talking. She sat up a little taller, still keeping low in part to keep the conversation down and in part to avoid having Cedric see her.

Unfortunately, the latter didn't work too well.

"Wyn?" she heard Cedric ask. She shrunk down farther into the couch. Ernie and Talon looked at each other in sudden understanding.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Talon hissed under his breath.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up! Hide me!" she pleaded. After about a minute of intense debate, Ernie was finally pushed off of the couch and in front of Cedric.

"Erm," Ernie started. Wyn was sure he was going to crash and burn, but he started acting like he had never acted before.

"Ernie," Cedric said, "I want to talk to Wyn. What are you guys doing over there?"

"MAJESTY!" Ernie cried out, "Forgive us, please! Forgive us for keeping The Fair One away from you! In return for our treason, please take me, a human sacrifice, as payment!" Ernie groveled at Cedric's feet. All of the Hufflepuffs were starting to stare and laugh now. After about two minutes, Cedric looked as though he would kill him if he kept this up.

"I just want to talk to Wyn!" Cedric said between clenched teeth.

"Oh, Majesty! We would allow this, but The Fair One has declared it unfit for the time and being! Perhaps Majesty would like to speak with her privately later?"

_Wait! What? No! _Wyn thought desperately. She looked at Talon and he looked just as bewildered as she did.

"What the bloody hell is he doing…?" muttered Talon.

"Earning himself a severe arse-kicking the second he's done with his act," Wyn said severely, shooting daggers at Ernie.

"When?" Cedric asked Ernie.

"Today, at two," Wyn glanced at the clock. It was 1:30.

_Shit shit shit shit! _She cursed. _I am going to KILL Ernie! Hell hath no flickin' fury like Elwyn Aderyn Adworth! _

Cedric looked suspicious for a moment, but he finally took the bait. "Where should I meet her?" Ernie glanced back at Wyn to see her killing him in her mind. He shrugged and then turned back to Cedric.

"By the lake," Wyn was seriously going to kill him. That was where she had her first kiss! Did he _want _her to kill him? Cause he was doing a really good job of egging her on.

"There are a million places by the lake," Cedric said impatiently. "Which one?"

"Majesty, if you do not find the right spot, you will not see The Fair One! It will be the spot she most desires," Cedric glared at him but nodded. He looked back up at the clock. Five minutes had passed since Wyn had checked it last.

"Better leave now," he muttered "Circle the entire bloody lake," he ran up to his dorm and came back down with his broom. He whispered something to one of his year mates who nodded and grinned. Cedric left the common room. The second the portrait closed Wyn jumped up from her spot.

"I AM GOING TO BOODY KILL YOU!" Wyn screamed as she jumped onto Ernie, "WHY IN THE BLOODY HELL DID YOU DO THAT?" she tackled Ernie and punched him square in the jaw. Grabbing her wand, she held it up and began to hex him, when the portrait door opened again.

"Expelliarmus!" Justin yelled as the rest of the fourth year Hufflepuffs walked into the common room.

"What is going on?" Hannah yelled as Talon went over and dragged Wyn off of Ernie.

"You bloody little-!" Talon tried to calm her down, but she kept on going. "See if you get help with your pathetic love life this year! Bloody insane! I'm going to…" she thrashed around in Talon's grip. He didn't budge. Wyn looked up at him, glaring. He just smiled at her. She looked at the hands wrapped around her and bit the one that was closer to her mouth.

She shot up out of Talon's grasp and stomped on Ernie's fingers before going over to Justin.

"Wyn—"

"Wand, Justin,"

"I can't just—"

"WAND, JUSTIN!" she said again, louder this time. He looked at her for a minute before handing it over to her. She looked back and Ernie. She was about to hex him when she thought the better of it.

"I'm going to go talk to him, you bloody git, but if you think you're hurting _now_, you really don't know me very well," and with that she stormed out of the Hufflepuff common room.

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Wyn was wandering down towards the lake nearly shaking with rage. He was such a bloody little git! Forcing her—tricking her—into talking to Cedric! She didn't want to talk to Cedric! She wanted a chance to cool down so she wouldn't just explode the second she saw him.

After several minutes of wandering around the lake, Wyn finally stopped at a tall tree. The bark was thick and worn, and had many initials engraved on the trunk. Though still unbelievably angry, the tree had a weird calming effect on her. She loved the feel of the bark underneath her hand. So she sat down underneath it and closed her eyes. Cedric would find her eventually…

Cedric's POV 

Cedric had been flying for at least a half an hour by now. He could've sworn he had seen her walking towards the lake, but then nothing. He couldn't figure out where she had gone. He hovered for a few more minutes, his eyes desperately scanning the shore. _I'm never going to find her, _he thought.

Finally he flew down to the side of the lake and dismounted his broom. Thoroughly disappointed, he banished his broom and began trekking back up to the castle.

On a whim, he looked around one last time before he left. He scanned the area around him. _What's the point? _He thought bitterly to himself. _It's stupid of me to be looking. She just didn't come. I shouldn't be surprised, she's so bloody mad at me right now. _But still he kept on looking. He couldn't give up on her. He had waited for so long, he had wanted her for so _long. _Giving her up for something as stupid as the Triwizard Tournament…

When he turned to go back to the castle, something caught his eye. He quickly whipped around to see Wyn, fast asleep, against the biggest tree in sight.

_Damn it, Wyn, _he thought as he made his way towards her…

Wyn's POV 

"Wyn? Wyn?" Wyn's eyes fluttered open to see Cedric standing over her, "You awake, Wyn?" she looked up at him, confused. _Must've fallen asleep, _she thought as she stretched out.

"Hello, Cedric," Wyn said as she glanced up at the sky. "You've been waiting for a while. Why didn't you just leave?" he gave her an incredulous look.

"Why would I just leave? I wanted to talk to you."

"Uh, right," she said slowly.

"So, why did you ask me down here? You're really angry with me, aren't you?" Wyn rubbed her hand nervously.

"I-erm, well, I didn't."

"But, Ernie-"

"Yeah, that was all Ernie's doing. Not mine… and I am really angry with you. But at the moment, I'm mostly mad at Ernie, that lousy little…" she trailed off and laughed. "I probably shouldn't be so mad at him. I would've asked to meet with you in a couple of days anyway."

"So?" Wyn looked at Cedric.

"Impatient, are we?" she said, "You don't have anything else to do. I'll talk to you when I damned well feel like it."

"Fine, then I'll talk," Cedric said irritably, "I really want to put my name in the goblet. I think that it's a great opportunity and-"

"I already told you what I think of that. Do whatever the hell you want to, Cedric. There's nothing I can do to stop you," Wyn said coldly.

"Well then why did you ask me to come?" Wyn shot him a look before she answered him.

"I already told you that I didn't," Wyn said. _Now I remember why I was so bloody mad at him, _she thought to herself. She stood up and looked at the castle. "Accio Nimbus 2001," she said. The broom flew towards her and she grabbed it and mounted it. As soon as she left the tree she felt anger rising within her.

"Wyn," Cedric said.

"I don't feel like talking to you, Cedric," Wyn pushed off the ground and started towards the castle. After a moment, she heard Cedric yelling at her.

"Why do you always think it's easiest to give up?" he yelled. She pulled down a little and came back down by him.

"Give up on what, Cedric? What do we have that's worth me giving up on? The only reason I talk to you so much is because you remind me of Kip. If it hadn't been for how alike you two are, you would've been just another guy. Why would I fight for 'just another guy'?" Cedric's eyes were blazing.

"You don't mean that," he said intensely, staring at her with his big brown eyes.

"I sure as hell do," she said, meeting his gaze.

"No. You. Don't."

"What are you to me except Kip's best friend?" Wyn said angrily, still on her broom. Her intense emotions were making her wobble, so she stepped off the broom.

"All I've done to you since Kip died is care for you! I was there whenever you needed me, whenever you cried or needed help with homework. I would come see you every summer and I would even _write _to you! I never write to anyone! I never even wrote to Kip," he said.

"Some things aren't worth fighting for, Cedric," she said, "Ever think that I might be one of them?"

"No, Wyn. You're worth fighting for. I'd fight anything for you. Even when I'm angry with you, you're the most important thing in my life. Don't ever suggest that you're not important to me, Wyn. You mean more to me than anyone else could ever hope to," he said, his eyes changing from angry to mournful. Wyn stepped back and she could feel her jaw dropping.

"No I don't," she said, continuing to back away. She could see the pain in his eyes as he watched her.

"I love you, Wyn," he said quietly. Wyn's eyes widened and she mounted her broom faster than she ever had before. She kicked off the ground and pressed her body against her broom.

_Run away, run away, run away, _a voice chimed in her head. _Run away. Listen to your gut. Something is going to happen and you don't want to get hurt. Run. While you still can…_

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Uh oh. Trouble in Wyn paradise?

Watch it get interesting, folks.


	7. The Eagle Finds Its Perch

Hello to every I changed aljadflkjaer and klajflekjr. Right? Right.

I don't own hp… yadda… must get out rest of chapters… la la la.

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_Run away, run away, run away. Run away! Listen to your gut. Something is going to happen and you don't want to get hurt. Run. Run while you still can…_

The message repeated itself over and over in her head as she darted away on her broom. She flew as high as she could, still pressed down on the wood of her broom. She was flying as fast as she possibly could, concentrating as hard as she could on flying. Just flying far and fast.

The wind slapped her face. It was cold, so cold, up here. But she kept on flying up. Her hair was flowing behind her, whipping around viciously. She should have tied it up, but she couldn't stop. The exhilaration of flying farther and farther away from her problems would stop if she slowed down to tie back her hair.

The wind, the clouds, the weather were all telling her to go back down, but the harsh warnings she was getting felt good against her hot skin.

She flew for hours, eventually descending instead of climbing. But always the same words echoed in the back of her head. _Something is going to happen. Something is going to happen. Something is going to happen, you know it, and you cannot stop it. Run away before you get hurt. _

_Run away before something happens…_

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It was getting dark by the time she landed. She looked up at the sky, the same sky that she had been riding in for the last five hours. It looked so familiar, so friendly… it took all of her willpower to banish her broom and walk back to the castle, shivering ever so slightly from being in the wind for so long.

The ground felt unfamiliar under her feet as she trudged up to the gates. She passed through quickly and scampered to the Great Hall, just in time for dinner. Talon shot her a look and tried to get her to go to the Hufflepuff table, nodding at Ernie's empty spot. _Reckon I must've put him in the Hospital Wing, _she thought to herself. She laughed out loud much to her surprise, but shook her head and went to sit with the Gryffindor's. Fred, George, Cal, and Lee had their heads together, still trying to think of a way to put their names in the Goblet. She walked up behind them.

"You're never going to get your names in the bloody Goblet, you know," she said.

"Sure we will, Wyn. We found this aging potion…" Fred said.

"Even if you drank a million aging potions, that Goblet was magically sealed by Dumbledore and probably the other schools Headmasters. There's no way you'll be able to fool it with a potion as simple as that," she said.

"It's not simple! It's one of the most complicated-"

"Nickleburn's Aging Potion?" she said. The boys looked at her, their eyes wide.

"How did you-"

"Two frog legs, one dragon scale, turning counterclockwise twice after each, one cat claw, turning counterclockwise once and clockwise twice, one unicorn hair, gold, not silver, half turn clockwise. Three lizard legs, turn three-quarters clockwise after first, once clockwise after the second, and once counterclockwise after the third. There's a few other herbs and flowers, I believe, but they're simple. Dumbledore could do that in his sleep. Gotta work a bit harder, boys," she laughed, and sat down next to Harry.

Hermione looked at her and raised her eyebrow. "What happened to you? You look like you've been snogging," Wyn laughed.

"No. First I put Ernie in the Hospital, then I, erm, uh…" she stopped and looked down at her plate, "Erm… well, that part isn't important," she mumbled, her plate really was very interesting today. All sorts of little nicks on it. Interesting, as usually the House elves fixed those. She voiced her opinions on this, receiving very strange looks from everyone at her table. Sighing, she grabbed some food.

"Anyways, I'm starved. Been flying for the last five hours," more strange looks. She really wasn't doing well with the fibbing thing today. "Graahhh!" she whined, "By the end of dinner _everyone _is going to hate me."

"Everyone?" Hermione asked.

"Not talking about it," she mumbled, shoving some food into her mouth. The trio looked at her oddly, then went back to eating and chatting. She piped up every once in a while, but she felt awful. When she was flying she could deny it, but she couldn't when she was on the ground.

She knew something going to happen, and she didn't care. Putting her hands to her temples, she slumped over on the table. She didn't care. It was more important than what would happen. One of the wise things her brother had once told her rang in the back of her head. _Live in the moment and enjoy it, because tomorrow it could be gone._

And it would be. She… she knew it. She felt it. But maybe this was more important; maybe he could be more important. Because she loved him.

She loved him…

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"Hellooooo? WYNNNIEEEEE!" Lee waved his hand in front of her face. "Are you there WYNNNIIIEEEE?" he asked in a singsong voice. She looked up at him and gave him a big smile.

"I love him," she said and she got up from the bench and darted up to the Hospital Wing.

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"Madame Pomfrey?" Wyn asked, slightly out of breath, "Is Ernie in here?" Madame Pomfrey looked at her oddly for a moment.

"Yes, he is. But aren't you the reason why he's in here in the first place?" Wyn smiled and laughed.

"I guess, but I need to talk to him. Thank him, I think. I promise I won't kill him! Can I see him, please?"

"Of course, Elwyn," Madame Pomfrey said, "He's right over there," she said, pointing to the bed in the corner.

"Thank you, Madame Pomfrey. I swear I won't hurt him. I didn't actually think I punched him that hard," she said.

"Oh, well, you did a good bit of damage. But it seems that someone else cursed him on your behalf. Justin Finch-Fletchey, I think," Wyn was surprised but nodded.

"Oh, ok. Thanks again," she said as she hopped over to Ernie's bed. He looked up at her, horrified.

"Don't hurt me! Please, I just thought—" Wyn hugged him.

"That was probably the smartest thing you've ever done, Ern," she said as she let go. "Granted I ran away, but I did realize…" she trailed off. Ernie looked at her excitedly.

"Realize what?" he asked.

"That I love him," she said, her smile bigger than it ever had been. Ernie had the exact same grin all over his face.

"You're such a git," he laughed, "Couldn't you have thought of that _before _Justin put the Bogey Bat Hex on me?"

"Aw, but that would ruin all my fun. Visiting people in the Hospital Wing is the greatest!"

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At nine, Wyn turned on her walkie-talkie. They were useful little muggle gadgets, and she found herself being glad for the millionth time that Hannah was muggle-born.

"Has the Eagle found his perch?" she said into the walkie-talkie. There was static before she heard Talon's voice.

"Aye, Sparrowhawk," he said, unable to contain his laughter.

"Good, over and out," she said and turned her walkie-talkie off. She turned around to get her broom only to see Hermione sitting on her trunk.

"Hello, Wyn," she said with a devilish smile. I hope you're not going somewhere with Mr. Talon without telling me."

"Not with Talon," she said, "Talon is organizing the whole thing. I'm going to try to talk to Cedric, though I wouldn't blame him if he doesn't want to," she pushed Hermione off of her trunk and grabbed her broom. Before she left she looked over at Hermione, who was smiling like a fool.

"Cedric would never pass up an opportunity to talk to you, Wyn," she said, the same grin still plastered on her face.

"So he's told me," Wyn said in a near whisper, "I just hope I don't disappoint him," Hermione walked over to the window that Wyn was hesitant to leave.

"He won't be disappointed in you. He never could be, he loves you too much," Wyn smiled.

"People should inform me of things like that before the person in question tells me face-to-face and I run away like a lunatic."

"Oh, so that's what happened, huh? He finally told you he loved you and you freaked out and ran away?" Wyn blushed and nodded. "Then go, now. He might actually give up," Wyn didn't need to be told 'give up' twice. She flew out of the window with the same urgency as she had flown away from Cedric earlier that day.

Wyn flew around the castle. She knew where the Hufflepuff common room, she had been there on broom a million times. Talon had said that the seventh year boys' dorms were two windows above and one to the right of the common room. She deftly flew to the common room window, being sure that no one could see her, and steered her broom up two windows. She flew to the first window on her right, and stopped. Peering inside, she rapped on it.

"Whoever it is, I really don't feel like talking," she heard Cedric say from inside the dorm.

"Cedric, it's Wyn. I understand if you don't want to talk to me, but I, erm," she stopped for a moment. "I'm really sorry Cedric," Wyn waited for a moment, and when she heard nothing from inside she started to turn away. "I'll wait until you're ready to talk. I just—I'm so sorry."

The window swung open. "If you're apologizing I'm hearing it in person, not through the bloody window," Cedric said, "Get your bloody arse in here." Wyn grinned and flew deftly through the window. She dismounted her broom and turned to face Cedric. He was lying down on his bed. He motioned to the bed next to his and Wyn sat down. After several moments, Wyn finally started talking.

"You've always been more to me than just Kip's best friend. You probably know that better than I do, as it seems that I get less and less observant by the bloody day. You didn't deserve any of the things I said to you today. I know all you've ever done is care for me, and that's why I worry so much about you.

"And you deserve to know why I'm so insistent about the Triwizard Tournament. First, it's because something is going to go wrong if you enter. I-I can _feel _it. I don't care if you don't believe me about that, because I can. I _know _something will happen to you if you enter that contest. Second, it's because you were Kip's best friend. And if something happened to you, it would be like losing Kip all over again. And finally," she said looking him straight in the eye, "Cedric," she warned as he turned away, "This is the most important thing I'm going to tell you, so look me in the bloody eye." He grunted, sat up, and looked at her. She sighed and finally said four words she never thought she would say. "I love you, Cedric."

Cedric's eyes lit up. "What did you just say?" he asked Wyn incredulously.

"I love you, Cedric." Cedric smiled wryly and Wyn got up to sit on his bed. He leaned in to kiss her, but she turned her head. He looked at her for a moment, confused. "I love you, but I swear to God I'll never act on it unless you promise me something," Cedric's smile returned.

"Anything."

"Promise me that you won't put your name into the Goblet," she said.

"I promise," he said as he leaned in to kiss her once again. Their lips met. It was a million times better than anything she had ever had with any of her other boyfriends.

**A/N**… Use your bloody imaginations. Not my job. Even though this is a romance… Oh, shut up!

They sat there, their kisses turning into a snog feast, until one of Cedric's roommates came upstairs.

"Oh, I-erm," Terrence said. Wyn looked up and laughed.

"It's alright, Terr. I was just about to leave," she said as she pushed Cedric off of her. He moaned as he hit the floor.

"No you weren't," he grumbled as he picked himself up.

"Don't flatter yourself, Cedric. I wasn't going to sleep over," she laughed.

"Sure you weren't," he mumbled as he walked over to the window with her. She smacked his arm playfully.

"No, I wasn't," she said as she grabbed her broom. "G'night, Cedric."

"Goodbye kiss?" she looked at him and mounted her broom.

"What were just doing?"

"Snogging until we got caught?"

"Oh, well then," she flew out of the window, but leaned in to give Cedric a kiss. She pulled away at a point where she knew he would want more smiled at him.

"You are so evil, Wyn," he moaned as she started flying away.

"Loving evil people is fun though, isn't it, Mr. Diggory?" she smirked.

"Oh, so much fun."

"Goodnight," Wyn flew farther away.

"Goodnight, Love," he called out after her as she flew around the first corner of the castle and out of his view. "Goodnight, Love…"

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Thanks for reading, review, be awesome… woot woot.


	8. Dibs On Neville

Well, one whole review! Wooo! So, anyways, thanks lo22, I love hearing from people. All questions concerning Wyn's... Mary-sueness will be answered. Seriously, I re-read the first chapter the other day… I might have to rewrite it.

Mef. I might be too lazy.

Anyways, enjoy part 8, by the end of the week I should be up to part 10. Read, review, AND HELP ME THINK OF A BETTER SUMMARY. Thanks lots in advance, and here's a cookie to lo22 for reviewing.

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Wyn flew back to her dorm looking very satisfied. She licked her lips knowing Cedric had been there. She must've looked like a mess, but she didn't care.

_I love him,_ she thought. _I love him. _She looked up at the moon before she opened her window.

"I LOVE CEDRIC DIGGORY!" she screamed into the sky. It felt good. All she wanted to do was say it over and over again. So she did, each time getting softer and less urgent. Finally, her window opened.

"We heard you the first time. Now get inside," growled Lavender.

"I love Cedric Diggory, and not even you can ruin my night, Brownie," she said with a delighted smile. She flew inside and hopped on her bed for a moment before she got bored. She ambled down into the common room with her journal in hand to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione talking. Sitting in her favorite chair, she began to write. However, she was less than a paragraph in when Hermione pounced on her.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" she screeched as she tugged on Wyn's arm.

"I love Cedric Diggory," she said for the hundredth time that night. Hermione squealed and threw herself onto her.

"Oh my god, Wyn!" despite herself, Wyn squealed back and bounced excitedly on the couch after Hermione pulled away.

"I know! I-I-I can't even handle myself!" Hermione and Wyn kept on chatting loudly, squealing now and again for good measure. Ron and Harry were sitting on the couch, looking at them like they were bloody insane. Harry muttered something to Ron, who nodded. They got up and headed to their dorms. Hermione looked up for a moment, but turned back to Wyn, giggling all the while.

"You're so lucky! Cedric is such a great guy, smart, funny, sweet, talented, devilishly handsome—" Hermione said as Wyn laughed.

"I've been telling my friends that he isn't as great as he's cracked up to be for years."

"I take it that's not true?" Wyn sighed dreamily.

"No, he isn't as great as he's cracked up to be." Hermione looked at her strangely, "He's a million times better."

"Goddamn it, Wyn, Hermione! STOP YOUR SCREECHING!" Lavender yelled down into the common room. Wyn was too happy to respond.

"Shut up, Lavender," Hermione yelled back at her.

"Some of us want to bloody sleep!"

"Well if you were one of them, you would've figured out how to block us out by now!" Hermione retorted, looking quite pleased with herself. Lavender shut up, but slammed the dorm door so loudly Neville and Harry came downstairs.

"What's going on?" Neville yawned as he spoke.

"Lavender's got a bigger stick up her ass than usual," Wyn said and smiled.

"Bloody bitch," Hermione muttered. They both smiled at each other and cracked up.

"I think we've gotten ourselves kicked out of our dorms for tonight, Poofers," Wyn said.

"I do believe you're right," Hermione smiled. "I'll accio some pajamas… guess we'll be sleeping with you boys tonight." Neville and Harry both turned bright red. Wyn grinned devilishly at Hermione.

"DIBS ON NEVILLE!" she cried as she accio'd her pajamas. Before Hermione could protest, she grabbed Neville and raced upstairs.

"WYN!" Hermione yelled after her as she threw Neville onto his bed.

"Don't let Hermione sleep in your bed, okay? I'm going to get my pajamas on in your bathroom," Neville looked up at her, bewildered. His face was bright red. He tried to stutter an answer, and Wyn laughed. "You're so great," she said as she skipped to the bathroom. Neville just sighed, quickly changed into his pajamas, and got ready to share his bed for the first time in his life.

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Wyn came in a few minutes later to see Hermione arguing with Neville. She laughed and walked over to them.

"There a problem, Nevie?" she asked.

"Erm, I, uh," he turned an even darker shade of red.

"Poofers," she turned to face Hermione, "go get into Harry's bed."

"But—I-" she started.

"Stop it, Poof. Go sleep with Harry, or wake up Ron and get into bed with him. Your call," Hermione bit her lip. "I'd be more than happy to wake up Ron myself," Wyn said with a sly smile. To her surprise, Hermione nodded. She thought she would do anything to not spend the night with Ron. Maybe they weren't as hopeless as they seemed…

"Okay!" she said happily. She walked over to Ron's bed and watched him for a minute. When Harry came into the room, she looked over at him. "What's the best way to wake up this lunkhead? With his brothers it was always yelling like Mrs. Weasley, but I doubt that would work with Ron. Doesn't get yelled at much," Harry smiled.

"No, he doesn't. I always yell 'time to wake up', but usually Seamus and Dean aren't asleep," he said, motioning to his roommates.

"Some help you are," she muttered. She leaned over Ron and whispered into his ear. "Ron, Ron! Malfoy's coming to take Hermione away, you've got to get up and help!"

At first Ron did nothing but grunt and roll over, but Wyn persisted. The second time, he jolted awake the moment she said 'Hermione.' He mumbled something incoherent.

"Bloody kill Malfoy… does anything to Herms," Wyn started cracking up. Ron looked around, confused, but when he saw both Wyn and Harry falling over in laughter and Hermione standing looking very embarrassed, he managed to piece together what had happened.

"That's so great!" Wyn said as she climbed into Neville's bed where he was quietly chuckling.

"Wyn!" Ron whined, "Why the bloody hell did you have to do that?"

"Hermione wanted me to get you up so she could sleep with you tonight. We got kicked out of our dorm by Brownie," Ron and Hermione both turned bright red, but Ron lay back down on his bed. He opened up his covers and motioned for Hermione to come over. She did so tentatively, and climbed into bed with him. They were both as close to the sides as they could be without falling off.

"You know," Wyn said as she curled up by Neville, "if one of you breathes you're going to fall off that bloody bed. Just sleep closer to each other. It won't kill you," Ron and Hermione both looked at each other apprehensively, but after a few minutes, Hermione scooted about two inches closer. Seconds later, Ron did the same. She giggled before falling into a deep sleep.

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When Wyn awoke the next morning, everyone was still asleep. She looked over at Ron and Hermione to see if they had managed to fall asleep, and nearly woke up Neville because she was laughing so hard. They hadn't fallen off the bed—quite the opposite, actually. Ron was lying right in the middle of the bed with Hermione's head on his chest with his arms comfortably rested on Hermione's stomach. She snorted and carefully got out of bed.

"Accio digital camera," she whispered. Three flashes and a lot of laughter later, Hermione's eyes fluttered open.

"Wyn? What are you doing with that camera?" she asked groggily.

"Nothing, Poof. Go back to sleep." In her tired state, Hermione snuggled closer to Ron and passed out again. Wyn took a few more pictures before she went over to Harry's bed. After poking him a few times, she finally whipped off his covers.

"Aunt Petunia," he murmured, "it's early! I don't want to make breakfast today," Wyn laughed and poked him a few more times. He groggily sat up, confusion plastered all over his face at Wyn's sudden appearance. The events of last night came back to him and he smiled. "Where are they?" he asked. Wyn laughed as quietly as she could and pointed to Ron and Hermione.

"I think they got over their fear of sleeping too close to each other," Wyn said as she and Harry doubled over in laughter. Finally, they heard a groggy mumble and turned to see Ron yawning.

"Whassamatta?" he asked with his eyes half closed.

"N-nothing," Wyn snickered. Ron stretched, taking his hands off from Hermione's stomach. He sat up and Hermione groaned, cuddling closer to him. Harry and Wyn both looked at Ron for a reaction. His face turned bright red—real Weasley blush red—and he opened his mouth.

"Herms?" he asked finally. She looked up at him.

"Ronald?" then she looked down at her arms that had wrapped themselves partially around his torso. "Bloody hell!" she screeched, letting go, jumping back, and falling off the bed.

The thud awakened bleary-eyed Seamus, Dean, and Neville. When Dean saw Wyn he sighed.

"Keep us up late with your squealing, wake us up early—" he was cut off by Seamus, who burst out laughing when he saw Ron and Hermione. Dean looked at him, confused. Seamus pointed at Hermione on the ground and an extremely red Ron. Dean, too, started laughing. In response, Hermione jumped up, grabbed Wyn's hand, and ran out of the boys' dorm as fast as she possibly could.

Hermione stood there in absolute shock, glaring at Wyn, who was still laughing.

"That was the funniest thing I've ever seen!" she said in between laughs. "And to think, I got PICTURES of it!" she started dancing around in glee as Hermione began to search the room for Wyn's camera.

"Damn it, Wyn," she cursed as she thrashed through her trunk. "Where in the bloody hell do you keep that camera?"

"YOU'LL NEVER FIND IT, COPPER!" Wyn shrieked gaily as she grabbed her school robes and pranced into the girls' bathroom to get dressed.

"Wynnie!" Hermione said, the contents of her room spread all over the dorm. "I want those pictures!" Wyn smiled at her.

"Of course you do. You and Ickle Ronniekins were quite cozy. But, I don't think I will give them to you. You see, Fred, George, and I always had this plan with the first pictures of stuff like this we got… this is bloody gold!" Hermione's jaw dropped. She then raced into the common room with Wyn close on her heels.

"FRED! GEORGE!" she screeched as she sprinted up the stairs to the 7th year boy's dorm. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH THE PICURES!" Wyn cracked up and went to go get Harry and Ron.

When Ron heard what had happened, he turned bright red once again and raced with the same urgency to the dorms. Wyn and Harry just started laughing, nearly falling over as they made their way to four very confused 17 year-old boys.

"What pictures, Ron?" George pleaded as Hermione pinned Fred against the wall with her wand.

"YOU WILL TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE DOING WITH THOSE BLOODY PICTURES, FRED!" Hermione bellowed as Lee and Cal rolled out of bed to smile at Wyn.

"Something to do with you, Wyn, I take it," Cal said with a smile.

"You know it. I can show you them if you want, the pictures are bloody brilliant." Lee and Cal both lit up.

"Of course! Where are they?" Wyn accio'd her digital while Ron and Hermione were busy. The boys looked over her shoulder. Unfortunately, Hermione looked over at them when they started laughing like lunatics.

"WYN! GIVE ME THAT BLOODY CAMERA!" Wyn whipped out her wand and banished her camera.

"Go find it, Poofers," she said with a smirk as she and Harry went back down to the common room laughing happily.

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Hermione and Ron sat as far away from each other as humanly possible at breakfast that morning. Hermione kept on shooting Harry and Wyn dirty looks, so Wyn finally grabbed Harry and told him to come with her and sit with the Hufflepuffs. That made Hermione even angrier.

"Look, Poof. You slept in Ron's bed last night. Maybe it's time for you two to stop acting so immature and look at your guys' relationship again. If you don't want to, then get used to having awkward moments. If you honestly think a boy and a girl can ever just be friends, then you haven't spent enough time with boys. So sit down, talk to Ron, and work it out. Now either do just that or find some other group to sit with," Hermione opened and closed her mouth, but eventually grabbed Ron's wrist and dragged him to the far corner of the Gryffindor table. Wyn smiled and continued to the Hufflepuff table with Harry in tow.

"Hello, Wyn," Cedric said as she walked by him with a wide grin on his face. "How'd you sleep last night?"

"Better than you, I'm sure," she said with a smile.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I had the fortune of sleeping in the same bed as Neville Longbottom. He really is a very good pillow," Wyn said. Cedric just looked at her for a minute. Then he laughed.

"Better than me?"

"I wouldn't know now, would I?" she asked.

"We could always find out," he smirked as he scooted over so there was room for her on the bench. On the other side, two others scooted over so Harry could sit with them as well.

"Well, er, this is a big change from yesterday," one of the sixth year boys said when he saw Wyn and Cedric sitting together.

"Yup," Cedric said.

"Didn't she put Ernie MacMillan in the hospital wing yesterday because he tried to get you guys to make up?"

"Yup," Wyn said.

"So, uh, what happened?"

"I apologized," Wyn smiled. "I'm very good at apologizing."

"I guess so," he mumbled as Cedric kissed her forehead.

"Very good at apologizing," he whispered into her ear. She turned her head and let her lips graze his before she got up. Cedric moaned.

"Where're you going?" Terrence asked her.

"Got other stuff to do besides snogging with Ced," she said, and laughed when he moaned again.

"Wyyynnn!" he whined as she grabbed Harry.

"Ceeeddrriiccc!" she mimicked happily.

"Ugh! You're so evil! I've waited three years and then you leave me every time we start to kiss!"

"Yeah, that's about right," she smirked as she leaned down to kiss him one more time. "I should probably explain myself to the 4th 'Puffers," she said. "But I'm free tonight. I'll either be practicing or writing by the lake, if you wish to join me."

"Of course," he said as he smiled up at her.

"Okay then, Love," she said as she flounced back to the other side of the Hufflepuff table.

"How'd it go?" Talon asked with a perky smile as Wyn and Harry walked over. The rest of the group looked up, confusion all over their faces.

"Beautifully," Wyn said simply. She dragged Harry across the table with her and plopped down in her usual spot in between Mandy and Justin. "Perfect. Absolutely perfect," she grabbed a piece of Justin's toast as Harry found a spot next to Anne.

"Perfect? I thought you didn't believe in perfection."

"Cedric Diggory is perfection," Wyn said with a laugh. Justin snorted and looked down at his plate, while Mandy, Hannah, and Susan all forgot their usual shyness and bombarded Wyn with questions. The sudden loudness from the Hufflepuff table caused more than a few stares, so she stood up on the table.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked her.

"I LOVE CEDRIC DIGGORY!" she screamed at the dining hall. She sat back down and finished her toast. A few seconds later, Cedric got up on the table.

"I LOVE ELWYN ADWORTH!" he yelled. He caught her eye and smiled at her before sitting back down.

"That answer your questions?" she asked as she turned to the girls. To respond, Hannah started talking.

"Now, about George…"


	9. Hospital Wing Visits Are the Greatest!

Technical changes. Don't own HP. Want to do funner stuff than this. (Funner is TOTALLY a word).

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"Potions is a bitch," Wyn muttered as she walked down to the dungeons with the trio.

"You cannot complain about anything today," Hermione said.

"Like bloody hell I can't," she said as she rounded the corner. "Seriously, I love potion making! It's a wonderful, complex art at which only a select few people are truly good at. Potions are one of the easiest things to invent, one of the easiest things to perfect, and one of the easiest things to destroy. Only Snape could ruin the joy and simple beauty that is potions," she said with passion. Hermione sighed as Harry and Ron looked up at her.

"Why don't you help us with potions homework anymore?" Ron asked as they turned the final bend to Snape's classroom.

"It's boring," she said easily. "I'm supposed to be in 7th year potions this year, but Snape won't move me up. Says that if I get moved up, Malfoy has to be moved up too, and Dumbledore doesn't think he's ready. That class is seriously a million times worse than History of Magic was," she grumbled as they entered the classroom.

"What are you muttering about, Miss Adworth?" Snape shot at her as she entered.

"How stupid, pointless, and boring this class is," she shot back at him. Snape glared at her.

"20 points from Gryffindor," he hissed.

"Can I save both of us some time and assign myself three days of detention and send myself into the hall?" she asked as she headed towards the door.

"Sit," he said through gritted teeth. She sighed.

"Which lab partner of doom do I get this time?" she asked as she walked over to him.

"Mr. Zabini," he muttered. "You sit right there," he pointed at a seat in the front row with disdain.

"Ok, Professor Snape," she went over and sat down, staring at the desk with contempt.

"Oh," he said as a few other Slytherins trickled in, "50 points from Gryffindor, Miss Adworth," Wyn glared at him before getting out her parchment and quill. She cursed under her breath and wrote a note to Hermione.

_I bloody hate potions, _she wrote.

_So you've informed me. Why did you start that with Snape? He always comes out on top, you know that! We're probably in negative points now!_

_Whatever._

_Oh, Wyn! Don't you care?_

_I only care if Slytherin wins._

_Class is starting… stop writing._

_Fine, fine. Zambini and Malfoy are late, as usual. Who's your seat partner?_

_Pansy. Who'd you get stuck with?_

_Zabini._

_We really should stop passing notes, you know._

_Alright, fine. No fun loser, you are, Poof. Ruin my potions class. _

_Yes, yes. Now put the parchment away. _She sighed and folded up the magical parchment, and out of the corner of her eye saw Hermione doing the same.

Snape started into his beginning of the school year lecture and Wyn started doodling on her parchment that was meant for notes. He was talking about Gorgon's Potion, something she had worked on in first year, so she stopped paying attention about three words in.

The door opened with a bang, and Zabini and Malfoy stormed into the classroom, each pretty badly beaten up. Zabini had a black eye and his robes were significantly torn, while Malfoy was walking with a limp, had a bloody nose and lip, and his blonde hair was disheveled. It looked like they had gotten into a fight with someone, but all of the usual suspects were in potions.

"Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Zabini," Snape said, "what happened?" the two boys looked at each other and glared.

"Nothing," Zabini hissed as he made his way towards an open seat next to Lavender.

"That's Mr. Malfoy's seat, I'm afraid," Snape said with a snicker, "You are sitting next to Miss Adworth, in the front, where I can keep an eye on her," Wyn turned to look at him and gave him an innocent smile.

"Aw, Professor Snape, how sweet," she said with a fake smile, "I knew that deep down you had a soft spot for me."

"Of course, Miss Adworth," he grimaced as Zabini came up next to her and plopped his bag down on the table. Next to Lavender, Malfoy was doing the same. Several minutes later, they started working on Gorgon's Potion.

"What are you doing?" he asked as she deftly chopped up some thyme. "That's not on the ingredients list."

"Nope," she said as she threw in the rest of the things they had been chopping.

"What are you doing?" he asked in shock as she stirred it four times clockwise and twice counterclockwise.

"Got any eye of newt?" she asked after the potion had turned purple and was barely smoking.

"No! That wasn't on the ingredients list!" she sighed and got up from her table and rummaged around in the ingredients cupboard.

"This is quicker," she said as she threw in two eye of newt. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing," he looked at her incredulously as she stirred it once clockwise. The potion smoked, but turned the deep green color it was supposed to. She put the potion in the vials and leaned back in her chair.

"Where did you learn that? Are you sure it's fine?"

"It's perfect, and I learned it because I got bored last year. I've got a shortcut for nearly every potion in 4th year; I'm going to work on shortcuts for next years this year. That's what I do after I finish potions homework," she said lazily as she took out some parchment. "I know they all work because I test them on myself. Good incentive to make sure you're not just being lazy. It's shorter in class, but Gorgon's was particularly hard to find a good shortcut with. Took me about a month… the only one that took longer was Brines."

Blaise's POV 

Wyn scribbled something onto her parchment and watched it intently for a moment. "Ugh, Poofers," she complained, "I'm BOOREEED! Talk to me…" she looked up to see Blaise staring intently at her. "What do you want, Zabini?" she asked as she folded up the parchment again.

"What are you?" he asked incredulously.

"A person," she said as she flicked her wand aimlessly.

"No, seriously."

"Seriously?" she said, "I'm a person, a person who is very good at potions. I should be in his 7th year class, but he won't let me unless Malfoy gets moved up with me, and Dumbledore won't let him do that. I'm thinking about just dropping this class and screwing becoming an auror. It's so boring," she looked around, transfiguring her quill hadn't kept her interest very long.

"Bored easily, aren't you?" he asked as she started digging around in her bag again.

"Oh yeah. Wonder if Harry will talk to me," she muttered as she pulled out another piece of parchment very similar to the first. He glanced over her shoulder and saw her scribbling something else.

_Harry! I'm bored! TALK TO ME, I COMMAND IT! _The words faded after a few minutes. Suddenly, more words appeared. Blaise read them over her shoulder once again.

_Shush, Wyn. Not all of us are freakishly good at potions. You aren't sitting with a complete ass, are you? Just talk to Zabini. Ask him about the fight, I wasn't in it, it's sure to be a good story. Wonder what Gryffindor they jumped this time…_

_You're no fun! _Wyn wrote. _But fine. If you're all going to be losers. _Wyn sat up and looked at him.

"So, what's that black eye about?"

"It's a long story," he muttered as she folded up her parchment again.

"We've got an hour. Go," she said as she opened a pocket filled with many other pieces of very similar parchment. He looked at her for a minute. He hadn't told anyone about himself, ever. Not even Malfoy knew, and for all intensive purposes, he was his best friend. Or only person he talked to, depending on the day. Today was one of those 'only person he talked to' days. Sighing, he looked up at her. He wasn't sure why, but he trusted her completely.

"A really long story," he said finally. "It won't make any sense to you."

"Whatever. I'm always up for a good fight scene," she said. "Besides, someone must be in the Hospital Wing, right? I've heard that Malfoy and Zabini fights are pretty brutal. Two brains and two brawns. Can get pretty ugly, or so I've heard. Hospital Wing visits are my favorite," she smiled. "Go on. Like I said, you've got an hour. And I've got a free period next. So if you don't finish, I'll just snub the Trio."

Once again, he sighed. "Malfoy and I have very different views on Voldemort," he said finally. "I was put into Slytherin because I seek the ultimate revenge on someone, and will stop at nothing until I am satisfied. I am not evil. I am a pureblood, but I'm an orphan. I, like all purebloods, have relatives who are deatheaters, but my parents were both part of an Anti-Voldemort group. My parents were killed by none other than Lucius Malfoy when I was five-" Wyn stopped him.

"But the only person I ever see you with is Malfoy," she said.

"Yeah. I don't have any friends, and Malfoy tolerates me. All of the Slytherins know that my parents were Dumbledore supporters, and none of them will hang out with me. Everyone else has just labeled me as another Slytherin. The result is a supreme lack of friends," he said. "I think Malfoy puts up with me just because he thinks he can get me to switch sides. But he's sorely mistaken. Which is why we're both hurting right about now," he said with a grimace.

"Whoa, wait, you mean that you and Malfoy did this to _each other?_"

"Um, yeah, pretty much. Draco is either my best friends or the only person I talk to, depending on my mood. Right now he's the only person I talk to," Wyn looked proud of herself.

"You're talking to me," she said with a sweet smile.

"I suppose I am," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"So I don't get to go visit anyone in the Hospital Wing?" she pouted.

"You're twisted, Adworth," he laughed.

"I get that a lot," they sat there in an awkward silence for a moment. "Don't call me Adworth," she said finally. "I hate it when people call me 'Adworth.' I've had issues with it ever since…" she trailed off. Blaise looked at her with intense curiosity.

"Since what?" she looked down at her desk and mumbled something he didn't catch. "Come again?" he asked.

"Ever since Kip died," she said a bit louder, still looking at her desk. "It's like people expect me to be _the _Adworth ever since Kip died. Like, I'm the one who plays Quidditch, I'm the smart one, I play pranks, I have more friends than I can count, I have the great future. Cal? Cal is smart. He's funny. But he's not driven, he's not a teachers' favorite. He gets caught while I get away. And Aiken and Rad are still little. It's like all the expectations for one family were put onto my shoulders. And that's a lot of expectation," she said to her desk. "A lot of expectation.

"Kip was going to go pro in Quidditch, you know? He was already getting some interest from Ireland and England. And he was so great at everything. He left the same year I came, so everyone expected me to replace him and then be more, because I was more than just Kip," she sighed and looked up at him. "So no Adworth. There isn't any true Adworth since Kip died… he was the Adworth that everyone wanted. I'm the Adworth that everyone got," Blaise looked at her uncomfortably for a minute.

"So, do I call you Elwyn or something?" he asked her after a minute.

"No one calls me Elwyn," she laughed, "My name is Wyn," she extended her hand. He took it and shook it.

"Hello, Wyn. My name is Blaise," they smiled at each other and Wyn took out her schedule.

"What're you taking, Blaise?" she asked. He pulled out his schedule and passed it to her.

"Great! You've got astronomy and defense against the Dark Arts with Harry and I, and we've got transfiguration and charms together. Extra good because charms is my lonely class. I think Justin is in that class and no one else. I'll introduce you."

"The Hufflepuff?" Blaise asked with raised eyebrows.

"If you've got issues with Hufflepuffs, we are not going to get along too well," she said seriously.

"Naw, not really, but the three Hufflepuff boys in our year hate me."

"Maybe if you didn't hang around with the guy who put Ernie in the Hospital Wing for two weeks in First year and got away with it they wouldn't hate you," she said.

"Yeah, maybe," Blaise smiled. "You don't think they'd have an issue with me?" he asked.

"I'll punch Justin if he does. I can kick his ass. I could take on Ernie and Justin at the same time unarmed with a blindfold on," she said with a laugh. "And I'd win without even exerting myself."

"Yeah, you could," he said as she flexed her arms. "Where'd you get so buff?"

"My main position in Quidditch is Chaser, but I'm a decent Beater, too. Comes with the territory," she pushed her sleeve back down.

"I see, I see. So, you sure about the Hufflepuffs?"

"Positive about the Hufflepuffs. Harry will be slightly more challenging, but he'll get over himself. You may have to prove yourself, though," she said with a smirk.

"Oh, God," he muttered.

"I'll talk to Cal. He's good at initiation dares."

"Initiation dares?"

"Oh, my dear Blaise, that won't be an issue for at least another week or two. And you'll know it when you see it," Blaise sighed.

"I really don't like where this is going," he said.

"Oh, no one does. You should've seen the look on Mandy's face…"


	10. Scaring the New Recruits is MY JOB!

Very few changes, once again. Now must go edit what I haven't put up yet and update the next chapter. Should put another one up tomorrow, too. When I'm procrastinating on homework.

Don't own HP.

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"FREE PERIOD!" Wyn screamed as she left the dungeons. "FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE! I'M FREEEEEEE AS THE BLUEBIRDS FLYING BY MEEEEEEE!" she yelled/sang. (Bonus points if you know the band).

"Don't rub it in," Blaise said from behind her. Harry shot him a weird look before turning to Wyn.

"There's a Slytherin talking to us," he said.

"And he's not calling Hermione a… you know…" Ron said. Hermione turned red, but it was nothing compared to the red of Blaise's face.

"It was your idea for me to talk to him, Harry," she said as she grabbed Blaise's hand and brought him up to the line of Gryffindor's. "I adopted him," Harry and Ron grumbled something.

"Oh, shut up," Hermione said to her surprise. "If Wyn trusts him, you know he's not all bad," she extended her hand to a very intimidated Blaise.

"Nice to meet you, erm…"

"Blaise," he finished.

"Blaise," she said. "If you call me a mudblood, I'll send Wyn after your bloody arse." Blaise gulped and managed to smile weakly.

"Oh, uh, okay…"

"NO SCARING THE NEW RECRUITS!" Wyn screeched. "THAT'S MY JOB!" she grabbed Blaise's hand. "What class do you have next?"

"Herbology."

"FUN FUN FUN STUFF! THAT I'M REALLY BAD AT AND I ONLY PASS BECAUSE I'M AN HONORARY HUFFLEPUFF!" she yelled to the world. "WYN WILL TAKE YOU THERE!" Harry and Ron snickered as they saw Blaise's stricken face, and laughed even harder when a limping Malfoy came out of class, glaring daggers at the pair.

"You're bloody crazy, Wyn," Blaise said.

"I know. Ain't it great?" she stopped and spun around. "I'll bloody kill you if you take one more step, you lousy piece of shit," she snarled as she felt Malfoy's presence behind her.

"Oh, you're good," Blaise whispered into her ear. She whipped around, wand in hand.

"I swear to God, Malfoy." Malfoy sneered at her.

"You really do give yourself too much credit," he said. "I am not interested in you, but what my friend Zabini here is doing with you."

"Then you are interested in me. **Blaise **is here with me because you are a bloody arrogant bastard, and he's grown tired of your immature ploys for attention. And, yes, I did just stick words in his mouth. Shove them up your arse and leave."

"Touchy, touchy. And to think you come from such a good pureblood family."

"Blood isn't anything. Hermione is a million times the witch that bitch Pansy will ever be." Malfoy frowned at her.

"Blood traitor," he snarled.

"And damned proud."

"If I recall correctly, your parents didn't fight for Dumbledore's ninnies in the War," he said with a smirk.

"And if I recall correctly, they valued the lives of their three young children and didn't fight for Voldemort's pathetic little power-hungry minions either," she shot back. "As I recall, your father did. Which is why your power-seeking attention ploys and minions not at all surprise me. I'd expect it from the likes of you."

"Why thank you, Adworth."

"No, thank you, Draco. For a moment there I forgot why I don't give more Slytherin's a chance. Must run now, you know. Got a Herbology class to escort Mr. Zabini to," she turned to Blaise. "When are you out?"

"Noon."

"Good, Cal and I will come to pick you up."

"What?"

"You won't be any good in a fight in your state. Not like Malfoy would be, either, but I suppose his minions are still in good form?" she asked. Blaise smirked.

"Yeah, they are."

"Good, then. I might bring along the twins and their bludgers."

The pair turned away from a very stunned Draco Malfoy and headed down to Herbology.

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"Bloody crazy _and _bloody amazing," he murmured when he arrived in Herbology without harm.

"Can't expect anything less from Gryffindor's sweetheart, now, can we?" she smiled. "Kind of weird, isn't it? I'm Gryffindor's sweetheart, and you were best friends with the Prince of Slytherin. Ironic."

"Guess so. But, you know, I never really was 'one of them.'"

"Perhaps not. Have a good class. You'll love the twins! If you think I'm bloody brilliant, the twins are AMAZING!" Wyn waved at him as she turned to enter the castle.

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"Okay, guys," Wyn said as she sat down in the Commons. "I've got to go pick up Blaise. Cal, Fred, George, up. Now." The boys looked at her for a moment but reluctantly got up. "Where's Lee?" she asked.

"Snogging with his new girlfriend," Fred said with disdain.

"Don't be so hard on him, Fred," Cal said, "If any of us had girlfriends, we'd be doing the same thing."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

"Who is this Blaise?"

"4th year Slytherin," Wyn said. "We're picking him up so Malfoy's goons don't kill him before we can test him."

"Whoa, whoa," Cal said, "You're going to test a Slytherin for initiation?" Wyn shrugged.

"I'd like a few Slytherins as potential business partners. Now up," she said as she pulled out her wand.

"What's that for?" George asked as they followed her out of the portrait.

"Malfoy and Blaise got into a nasty fight. Before Blaise leaves, I think that he's going to try and jump him. Or get his minions to do it, whichever is easier. Blaise must've said something about Voldemort," she muttered as she turned another corner. "I like him 'cause he's cool, but I'll tell you one good reason to talk to him," she stopped and turned to face the boys for a moment. "Malfoy was his best friend."

"All the more reason not to talk to him," Fred said with disdain. George rolled his eyes at his brother and looked at Wyn.

"Was?" she nodded.

"So he knows dirt on Malfoy?" Cal asked. She nodded again.

"Well," said Fred, "I suppose we could check a Slytherin out, just this once…" Wyn smiled and continued to lead the boys down to Herbology.

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They arrived ten minutes early and leaned against the greenhouse, waiting for class to end. Wyn closed her eyes and thought of how she would spend tonight. She hadn't decided whether she would rather go to the Quidditch Pitch or the lake, they were both beautiful at night, both excellent places to snog…

"So, Wyn," Cal said, popping up from a conversation with the twins. She opened one eye and looked at him. "We here Cedric and you are dating?" Wyn blushed.

"As did the rest of the school during breakfast, if you were there," she said. The boys all looked at her funnily.

"Eh?"

"The 'Puffs wouldn't stop bugging me about what happened, so I just stood up and screamed 'I love Cedric Diggory!' and he did the same. I guess that kind of gave it away. You didn't hear about that?" she asked, opening her other eye and turning to look at them face-on.

"Erm, no," Cal said.

"Huh. I've heard it disappointed half the school body population. I've gotten jealous looks all day," she said as she closed her eyes again. "Honestly, though, I wouldn't like Cedric unless I had known him forever. I don't get the 'perfect guy' appeal. Everyone has quirks, it makes them special and unique. Along with quirks come flaws. I don't really get the beautiful-smart-athletic-popular-sweet thing. Who wants someone perfect?"

"You apparently," George said as he followed suit and closed his eyes.

"Apparently," she chuckled. The sun felt good against her skin. Her violet eyes fluttered open and she smiled up at the blue sky.

Wyn had never believed in perfection. To her, perfection was something that was made up in order for people to have something to work towards in their pathetic lives. Perfection involved the perfect family, perfect house, perfect job, perfect kids, and all sorts of things she didn't believe existed.

In Wyn's eyes, the perfect family was different for everyone. For some, the perfect family is a big eclectic group of people who care for each other. For others it's a small, close-knit group of blood-related people. Some families have many kids, some have none at all. To Wyn, it seemed as thought there was no real way to describe or label the perfect family, so why should they try?

A perfect house depended on the perfect family. The Weasley's house was Wyn's idea of perfection. It was full, sure, but full of people who genuinely loved each other. Full of Mrs. Weasley's warmth and kindness, and Mr. Weasley's blatant adoration for his wife and children. It was small, it was cluttered, it was poor. It was barely held up by magic. But it was filled with wonderful, unconditional love. There was no better place to be raised.

Perhaps a perfect job existed somewhere. Maybe it was constantly interesting and new, a perfect mix of activity and desk work. Perhaps there was a job that had thrill but no danger, that mixed everything that she loved and ignored everything she hated. Maybe there was a job like that, close to home, that paid well. But she hadn't found it yet.

More than anything, though, Wyn despised the term 'perfect children.' Children were not things to put on display, not things to be kept like dolls and put up for show. They did not always smile for the camera, they did not always kiss their parents good night, and they did not always love and respect the people who cared for them more than anything. But children weren't _supposed _to be like that in Wyn's mind. Children were carefree, loving, and sweet. But at the same time, they were wild, trouble-making pranksters with a bad streak that was far more memorable than their good side. Some were smart, others not. Some would be good seeds, some would be bad. But children were not meant to be perfect.

But, as Wyn felt the sun against her skin and the gentle breeze fly lightly against her lips, she felt, for once, that there might be such a thing as perfection. Perhaps not in the common sense of the term, but this. Surrounded by people who loved you, missing something but having more. Waiting for a good friend, about to be embraced by others. Allowing the day to go by with high points and low, sitting and waiting for the moment you could be held your one true love. She smiled with every ounce of happiness in her body and looked up at the blue sky one last time.

_Moments like these are few and far between, _she thought quietly as the Herbology class was released. _The most precious moments in the world are taking place right now, and I could've walked past them. Things probably won't be this perfect for a long time. _

She had no idea how long she would have to wait to be so perfectly content, so wonderfully, blissfully happy. She had no idea what was about to happen, what Cedric was about to do. She had no idea about what the new defense against the Dark Arts teacher was planning. She had no idea that Voldemort was going down a list of victims and getting closer and closer to some very familiar names. She had no idea how much her life was about to change. She only knew that perfection didn't come around very often, so she basked in its glory.

And at least she did that…

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The weeks went by seamlessly, though Wyn was having trouble keeping her life in order. It seemed to her that things had never been this difficult. Perhaps it was the added weight of being in a relationship that she desperately wanted to work, or maybe it was keeping Blaise alive through Draco's rage. Maybe it was the fact that she was getting worse at Herbology by the day, or that no matter how amusing Blaise was, potions was the stupidest thing she had ever had to do.

The homework load this year was much more considerable than any other year, but that was to be expected. This was around the time teachers started freaking out about O.W.L's. And, actually, she didn't mind the homework. She liked writing papers and exercising her brain. To her, studying was great time, and a wonderful time to hang out with friends or more than friends…

One of the things that was puzzling her at the moment was her guilt. She had hardly ever felt guilty about not telling Neville that he was her God brother, but she could hardly talk to him anymore without feeling a pang of guilt. He deserved to know, and no matter how hard she tried, she could not push that fact out of her mind. He was miserable with his Grams! She had known that since first year, and she had never done anything about it. What kind of God sister was she, not telling him and letting him live in the not-exactly-abusive-but-definitely-not-healthy environment where he had spent almost all of his life?

Whenever he talked about his family, she got sick to her stomach. She would quietly excuse herself and go and write in her journal, sometimes for only a few minutes, other times it for hours. It wasn't healthy and it didn't solve anything, but she couldn't stop.

But perhaps the weirdest thing that was happening was nothing but a gut feeling. Something in the pit of her stomach that told her over and over again that something wasn't right. That something was going to go wrong. Even in the most perfect of times, laughing with Mandy, writing letters to her family, even hanging out with Cedric. It felt as though there were a cloud over her head, telling her over and over and over again that something was going to go wrong, no matter what she did to stop it.


	11. The Sweetest

'Tis the chapter to MAKE ME HAPPY! WOOT! Ok, well, actually, it's the chapter that leads up to the chapter that makes me happy but… you'll see what I mean, ok's?

I have replaced all of the beginning chapters, if you are a recurring reader, GO BACK AND READ THE REVAPMED VERSION NOW. However, with my revamping of the chapters that are up, I am also revamping the part of the series that I have written but not posted. (Yes, I am actually about forty pages ahead of where I've updated. Don't you just hate me for waiting to post until Saturday when I've had this written for about three weeks?) So it might be a while until my next post.

IF YOU READ 'A GRIM LIFE,' LISTEN TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT! I have just realized that I do not own a copy of the fifth book. I think I burned it. Or threw it out. (I'm leaning towards the burning, 'cause I'm a pyromaniac like that). But, whatever the case, I DO NOT HAVE ONE. Therefore, the next and last chapter of the series will be hard. I'm looking for the sections that I want online, but I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to find it. It may be a while before the last chapter comes out. Sorry for the delay.

Now, onto BHL related things.

I do not own Harry Potter. Some days I wish I did. Other days, I realize that half of the readers would hate me for killing off the people that I would kill off. Either way, it is inconsequential, as I do not, nor will I ever, own Harry Potter & Co.

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It was October 23rd, the day Kip had died. It had been three years since the rings started pulsing, three years since she, Cal, and Cedric had lay down on Kip's bed and said their final goodbyes. In their normal tradition, Cal and Cedric wore the Gryffindor colors and didn't wear their robes, even if they had classes. Wyn went beyond that, wearing the same type of jeans and the exact same shirt as the one she had worn to his funeral.

She walked down into the common room to meet Cal, Fred, George, and Lee, who had broken up with his girlfriend. The twins and Lee all had Gryffindor scarves on though it was still not crisp enough to be wearing them. Today was one of the few days of the year that Wyn sat at the Gryffindor table.

The group walked soberly down the familiar path to the Dining Hall. Wyn sat down in between Cal and George, and leaned her head on her brother's shoulder. They didn't speak for the entire breakfast, and because all of the Gryffindor's knew what they were doing, none of them spoke to them, either.

"I've forgotten the shortcut for Topar's!" Wyn cried out suddenly. "Augh! That potion takes so damned long!"

"Oh, shush, Wyn," Cal said, smiling. "We never had any shortcuts in that class. It's not that hard—"

"No, you're right. It's bloody easy. That's why I _have _shortcuts." Fred and George shook their heads.

"You don't make sense."

"No sense at all," they said as they all stared at their empty plates.

"I should have enough time to go upstairs and get my shortcut journal," she said aimlessly.

"Then go get it," Lee said as he pushed his plate towards the center of the table.

"I'll just tell Blaise to do it," she said lazily as she followed Lee's suit. She folded her arms over the table and laid her head down. "God, I'm tired."

"Me too," Cal yawned. "I miss American coffee," he whined. Wyn smiled. He had spent some time with American family this summer, and he had come back talking about coffee like it was God. Which, over there, it was.

"Whiner," she said. She looked up at the clock. "Time to go to class, boys," she got up from the bench and waltzed over to the Slytherin table.

"What are you doing here, Adworth?" Malfoy hissed.

"Getting Blaise for potions," she said as she reached down, grabbed his hand, and pulled him up. Before Malfoy could say anything, Wyn started down towards the Dungeons.

It seemed like Blaise didn't know what to say. 'Kip Adworth Day' was always a mournful day for the Gryffindor's, but aside from a select few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, none of the other houses paid attention to October 23rd. So they walked in silence.

"Miss Adworth, what do you mean by wearing that to class?" Snape asked her harshly as she walked into his classroom.

"Kip died three years ago to the day," she said, looking him straight in the eye. "I do this every year to honor him. The Gryffindor House meant more to him than anything, and the House Cup was his pride and joy. I would be doing him wrong not to wear this," she sat down in her seat and started collecting ingredients.

"That is completely against school dress code," he said angrily.

"Yeah, it is. Do what you will, but I'm not taking it off."

"What did you say?"

"I said I'm not taking it off, Professor Snape," she said as the rest of the class began to trickle in. Snape was fuming.

"Go to Professor McGonagall's office," he hissed.

"Yes, Professor," she shot a sympathetic glance at Blaise, but walked up to Professor McGonagall's office just like always. Surprisingly, Cal wasn't there waiting for her. She went through his schedule in her brain. He had DADA now. That explained it; Moody must've thought it was funny. He was a Gryffindor, too.

She rapped on McGonagall's door. She heard a sigh.

"Mr. Adworth?" she asked.

"No, Professor McGonagall. It's Elwyn," she said. She heard McGonagall shift some papers and sigh.

"Come in, then, Miss Adworth," she said. Wyn opened the door and walked into Professor McGonagall's office.

"Right, then. In trouble for breaking school dress code again, are we?" she asked as she peered over her glasses.

"Yeah. I know you usually just send me back to class, but I have Professor Snape this period, and he hated Kip, so do you think I could stay in here?" she asked tentatively. McGonagall looked surprised but nodded. If McGonagall looked surprised, it was nothing compared to what Wyn felt. She hadn't even thought about the words as they were leaving her mouth. It was only when she took a seat in a red velvet chair that she realized what she had just done. She had just said she would sit in Professor McGonagall's office for over an hour and watch her grade papers, frown, and possibly drink tea. Wyn was close to opening her mouth and taking back what she had just said, but decided it would be rude. Instead she waited for McGonagall's answer, trying to look hopeful.

"Yes, of course, Miss Adworth." Wyn nodded and looked around at her office. She had been in here a million times, but she had always been too nervous to study the space. The contents didn't surprise her at all. All of the walls were covered in bookshelves and divided into sections. It was like a mini library.

It was the decorations that surprised Wyn. She wondered why she had never looked at the interior of the office before. It was fascinating, really. At first, she wasn't sure what all the paper of Professor McGonagall's walls were, but on closer inspection she found most of them were newspapers clippings. Interested now, she started to look at their contents. What she found surprised her immeasurably.

All along her walls were newspaper clippings showing noteworthy things her students had done. There was even an article, to Wyn's surprise, about when Professor Lupin was hired to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. She searched the wall, finding even her Mum up. There were also announcements of her parents' marriage, as well as announcements for the engagements and marriages of Alice and Frank Longbottom and James and Lily Potter. Others, too, were up there, but those were the names she noticed.

Wyn continued to scan the wall, looking for familiar names. She found James and Lily again, but this time it was the article about their funeral. Wyn gasped as she looked at the portion of the wall where this article hung. Every article was about the death of favorite Gryffindor students. She let her eyes run over all of the familiar names and felt her stomach clench.

After a long while, she noticed that Professor McGonagall was looking at her. She said nothing at first, but then Wyn spoke up.

"There are too many people on that wall, Professor," she said softly. She looked at McGonagall, who nodded, looking more solemn than usual.

"Too many people have been taken in this battle. Too many bright, resourceful, wonderful students. They would have gone far. All of them," she said, bitterness rising in her voice. Wyn was at a loss for words. She never would have guessed Professor McGonagall was that attached to her students. Professor McGonagall looked at the wall along with Wyn.

"There were very few people in your parents year that made it few. Very few from that period at all, in fact. I suppose every tragic story needs a happy tale," she said. She looked at Wyn quietly, "But then, I suppose every happy tale has a tragic turn. Especially now."

Wyn looked over her Professor. She was old, sure, but Wyn had never noticed how old she truly was. How many of her students had she outlived? What knowledge did she live with, after all of these years? It must have been nearly impossible for her to continue to be positive, knowing all that she did about Voldemort, about his followers, about the people that would die for their cause... As she studied her face, Professor McGonagall was studying her as well. After several moments, McGonagall spoke.

"Miss Adworth?"

"Yes, Professor McGonagall?"

"Why do you insist on doing this every year? I've never asked because I always felt it was too personal, but if I'm going to have to explain to Severus, I should probably have something better than 'she never does it normally,'" she said. Wyn smiled.

"Probably," she said as she looked at her Professor. She sighed. "I want to make sure Kip is remembered here forever. This place meant more to him than anything, being a Gryffindor was his life; playing Quidditch was the very fabric of his being. It just… it's right to do it, is all. I bet Kip would've wanted us to do it. And if we got detention for it, I think it would be all the better." To her surprise, Professor McGonagall smiled.

"Yes, I suppose you're right," she said as she put down her notebook and quill. "He never got to live up to his full potential. Would be out in the real world now," she shook her head. "He was a wonderful Gryffindor, the exact definition of what we're supposed to be like. A bit like yourself, if I recall. But he excelled at Transfiguration and really was rather horrible at potions." Wyn smiled.

"So I've heard. And none of us are any good at Herbology," she said with a chuckle. "Think inability to understand plants is genetic?"

"No. I just think all of the Herbology talent for your generation was put into one person," Wyn raised her eyebrows.

"Who?"

"Neville Longbottom," Wyn stared at her in disbelief. As far as she could tell, Professor McGonagall hated Neville.

"Really?"

"Oh, yes. He's horrible at transfiguration. Sad, really, considering how talented his father was in that subject, but he very good at Herbology. Amazingly good, actually. There was no Herbology talent left after Mr. Longbottom," Professor McGonagall smiled.

"I didn't really think you liked him that much," Wyn confessed as she got comfy in her chair.

"You're not wrong," Professor McGonagall said. "I do think the sorting hat made a mistake by putting him in Gryffindor, and he's not the best at Transfiguration, so I do get rather upset with him. But honestly, who could hate Mr. Longbottom? He's a sad, lonely boy who had no self-confidence. It seems too cruel to hate him. And he is a sweet boy, isn't he?"

"The sweetest," Wyn said with a sad smile. Professor McGonagall looked up at her.

"I know I'm not your favorite teacher, Wyn," she said, "And I know I'm not the nicest teacher—"

"You're great, Professor McGonagall. Just strict is all," she said with a genuine smile. She had always had a bit of a soft spot for Professor McGonagall. "You remind me a bit of Hermione Granger."

"We are rather similar, aren't we?" she said. Then she shook her head. "Do you mind if I pry for a moment?" Wyn looked up at her.

"Uh, sure, Professor," she said before she could change her mind.

"Has something happened between you and Mr. Longbottom? I used to see you two together a lot, doing homework or just talking. I never see that anymore." Wyn sighed and looked down at her hands. She had noticed it, too. She couldn't be around him without feeling guilty.

It was weird. No one except her parents, brothers, and Harry knew that Neville was her God brother. Not even Dumbledore, as far as she could tell. Her parents had handled it quickly and calmly, and hadn't turned to anyone for advice. Sometimes she wished they had. Someone probably would have told them to tell Neville…

Wyn looked back up at Professor McGonagall. She could feel her eyes filling up with tears. As she wiped them away, she opened her mouth to speak.

"Hardly anyone knows," she said softly. "My parents didn't want to tell anyone for fear it'd get back to him. His Grams didn't want him to know, she wanted to raise him to be just like his parents, she thought my parents wouldn't do a good job."

"What are you talking about, Miss Adworth?" Professor McGonagall asked. Wyn let tears stream freely down her face. Before she could change her mind, she let the words slip out of her mouth.

"Neville's my God brother," she said slowly, looking at McGonagall's desk.

"What?"

"Neville's my God brother," she repeated. "I'm sure you know that my Mother and Alice Longbottom were best friends during their school years," she said. "When my Mum was pregnant with Kip, she asked Alice and Frank Longbottom if they would be his Godparents. They, of course, said yes. They were Cal and my Godparents, too, and when Neville was born a few weeks after me, Alice asked my parents if they would be Neville's Godparents.

"When we were little, Neville, Harry, and I were playmates. But then James and Lily were killed and Harry was sent to live with the Dursley's, and then Neville's parent's had the accident.

"My parents were going to take Neville, but his Grams stopped it. She told them to stay away from Neville, and not to but into his life. She said that he was to be raised a Longbottom, not as an Adworth. She said that they weren't ever to tell him that they were his Godparents, and that I was to stop playing with him.

"They respected Grams wishes. Though they told us about Neville, they instructed us never to tell him, or anyone else. Grams is a pretty scary lady when she's angry…" Wyn trailed off. "I haven't really thought much of it since I met Neville again. I guess I just thought it was part of life that I would have to deal with. And until this year, I did. But now, whenever I see him, I feel guilty. And I can barely have a conversation with him without wanting to tell him. He's so miserable there.

"I mean, I know our family isn't perfect. And I know there are benefits of him being raised by his own family, but I can't help but wonder…" she stopped and looked up at the ceiling. "Maybe he would be different if he wasn't constantly being told about how great his parents were. About what a disappointment he is. About what his parents could do. If he didn't have to live up to the Longbottom name, I think he would. As you said, he really is a great boy…" McGonagall sat there and just stared at her for a minute.

"Stay here, I'm going to talk to Professor Dumbledore," she said hurriedly as she bustled out of her office.

Wyn sighed, and hunkered down in the chair again. She expected that to happen. Doubtless, she would have to tell Neville now, after three years of hiding it. She wouldn't blame him if he hated her for not telling him. She closed her eyes and tried to drift off to sleep, but she couldn't. She could close her eyes, but every time she did that, she felt like something wasn't right. Like something was happening that she needed to know about…

She sat up and sighed again. It had been like this for over a week. She hadn't gotten more than a few hours of sleep all week. Every time she closed her eyes, she heard screams, she felt intense pain… She felt some sort of impending doom. The same gut feeling she had had when Cedric told her he loved her. She had ignored it, but she couldn't ignore it any longer.

She knew she needed to talk to someone, but she couldn't think of anyone. Justin had been miffed at her for weeks, Cedric would say that there was nothing to worry about, the Trio had bigger things to worry about with Sirius threatening to come and see Harry, Hannah, Susan, and Annie were great, but she never talked to them about things like this. She never had. Mandy had started to spend a lot of time with Cho Chang, a 6th year Ravenclaw who had taken a sudden interest in the Ravenclaw house freak. Talon and Ernie were great friends, but they had never been much help with personal problems. They had a way of making them worse. Luna she had considered, but only briefly. She loved Luna, but the girl was a nutter. A great nutter. A friendly nutter. A nutter that meant well, but she was one, nonetheless. She had even thought about talking to Blaise, he was trusted now, but she just couldn't. It seemed like something too personal to talk about with someone she had only been friend with for a little over a month.

It amazed her. She had so many friends, but no one to confide in. She wondered if this was how Kip felt, if this was the reason he poured himself into Quidditch. Maybe this was the reason he came home so often and talked to her. Maybe she had been someone he trusted with his problems. It was true; he would come home or just write her whenever things started going badly in his life.

As she sat in the office, she felt an empty aching in her heart, one that she hadn't felt in a long time. There was only one person that she felt she could talk to right now, and he was gone…

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D'ya get the feeling that I like Luna? Well, you should. Luna and Neville are my two favorite HP characters.


	12. The Useless Miller's

This chapter is… eventful. Alas, it has very little to do with Cedric. But I have one thing to say:

NEVILLE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woot.

If I were rich, talented, and horribly mean to my lovely readers, my name would be JK Rowling and I would own these characters. Alas, I fit not one of those descriptions (for now…)

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Wyn was walking back from Herbology alone, avoiding the trio. She didn't want to do anything less than talk to them. They would ask her about what went on during potions. She wanted to sort it out on her own. She had told McGonagall. Why? She wasn't exactly Wyn's favorite professor. And now Dumbledore knew. She was sure that she, Cal, and Neville would be called into his office soon. She was not looking forward to it. Neville would have every right to be furious. She'd have to tell him what she had hid from him forever.

She pulled her bag further onto her shoulder and trudged up to the castle. There was a huge group around a sign. She saw the trio disappear into the huge group of people, so she walked away from it. As she walked, she heard someone say, "I've got to tell Cedric!"

She turned around, her interest now piqued. A fifth year ran out of the group of people and she took his place. They were coming in a week. Someone was telling Cedric. Everyone knew that he wasn't going to do it… not anymore. The pit of her stomach dropped.

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Wyn's intuition was once again right. As she sat in Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall mysteriously gone, she and Neville got called up to Professor Dumbledore's office. She had written a note to George and he had informed her that Cal had been called up over an hour ago.

_I just had to say it, _she thought bitterly. _I couldn't keep my bloody mouth shut. Goddamn it, I don't want to think about this, _she thought miserably as Neville stood up, visibly shaking, and walked over to her.

"Any idea what's going on?" he asked. She gulped. _Yes, I do. I know exactly what's going on. I'm about to tell you that you're my God brother; that I've lied to you for the past four years. You're about to find out that my parents didn't fight for you, that you didn't have to spend your miserable life with your Grams. _

"No," she lied. "No idea."

She walked as close to him as possible, even laying her head on his shoulder as they got closer to Dumbledore's office. They climbed the stairs and Wyn stood up straight and knocked on the large wooden door, careful not to use the knocker that always complained.

"Come in," Dumbledore's voice beckoned. Wyn pushed the door open and dragged Neville in behind her. She looked at the chairs in front of his desk, all of which were empty.

_Empty? Where's Cal?_ she asked herself as she made her way towards Dumbledore's desk. Neville's hand shook violently and she grabbed one in her own and sat down.

"I assume you know why you're here, Miss Adworth," he said. She looked down at the carpet and nodded her head slightly. She couldn't bring herself to look up at Neville. Kicking her feet aimlessly, she twiddled her thumbs and sucked in a big breath.

"Did you talk to Cal?" she finally asked, looking up at Dumbledore to see his reaction. He nodded his head.

"Mr. Adworth is not here because in reality, this matter is between you and Mr. Longbottom." Wyn just sighed and looked back down at her hands. It was between her and Neville. Cal and Neville hardly ever talked to each other, Neville was horribly afraid of him and the boys.

"Yes, Professor," she said.

"Do you wish to tell him, or would you like to leave and have me inform him?" she looked up at Dumbledore and met his eyes. They were tired, and almost mystified. Looking back down, she muttered something that was barely audible.

"Wyn?" Neville asked. She couldn't bring herself to look up at him.

"I'm so sorry," she said, her eyes overflowing with familiar tears, "So, so sorry."

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A half an hour later, Wyn finished telling Neville her story. For the first time, she looked him in the eye. His eyes, too, were flooded with tears. She looked back down. Dumbledore stood up.

"This is a lot to learn in one day, Mr. Longbottom," he said, ushering Neville out of his office. "I'll speak to you about it tomorrow, try to sort things out." After Neville had left, Dumbledore sat back down and looked straight at Wyn. "If you wish, you may go." Wyn stood up and walked towards the door. But as she touched the doorknob, she realized something still didn't feel right. She turned around and walked back to Dumbledore's desk.

"Professor?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you believe in gut feelings?" Dumbledore looked her in the eye.

"Of course, Miss Adworth. Why?" she sighed.

"For the last month I've had this feeling that I can't shake. Whenever I'm around my friends, I always feel like something is about to go horribly wrong. I can't sleep anymore, I'm always awakened by screams in my head, or unbearable pain coursing through my veins. Do… do you think I'm sensing something?" Dumbledore looked at her gravely.

"Miss Adworth, please do tell me when you have any specific dream or unusual pain. Whenever you suffer from this pain, please go down to the Hospital Wing so I can discuss things with you. You are an unusually talented witch, and I highly doubt this has no consequence," Wyn flinched. Though she had expected him to say something to that effect, she had hoped that she was over reacting.

"Yes, Professor," she said as she walked back over to the door. "Thank you, Professor," she said. As she walked out the door, Dumbledore opened his mouth.

"How long did you know? About Mr. Longbottom?" he asked her.

"My whole life," she said simply without turning around. With that, she opened the door and walked out into the hall.

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Wyn's mind raced as she walked through the empty corridors. She tried to think about something—anything—other than what Professor Dumbledore told her. With great fear, she thought about him talking about specific dreams. What if… what if she saw something she didn't want to see? What if she identified a scream?

She cursed herself for not taking Divination. It was a fool's skill, but still, perhaps there were some people who were actually blessed, or perhaps it was cursed, with the sight. Maybe she was one of them. Maybe if she had taken Divination, she would be able to pinpoint these horrific feelings and dreams. Then again, maybe she just had good intuition.

Yeah, right. If there was one useful thing Wyn had learned at Hogwarts, it was that nothing was a coincidence. Everything fit into a master plan. Nothing happened by chance. She supposed her feeling wasn't a chance either.

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"Hello, Love," Cedric said as she sat down next to him. She didn't say anything. Desperately, she tried to push her pain out of her mind, but it only made it worse.

It was dinner, but she wasn't hungry. She couldn't even pretend she was like she had been for the last few days. She just pushed the plate up onto the table, and lay her head down.

"What's wrong, Wyn?" Cedric asked as he rubbed her back.

"I'm, uh…" she gave up with trying to find an excuse. "A lot of things," she said after a long silence.

"What kind of things, Love?" he asked her as he put his arm around her and pulled her close to him. She felt herself caving in his arms.

"Not now," she whispered as she buried her face into his chest. He took that as an ok answer and kept his arm around her, eating with the other. He chatted with his friends throughout dinner, but left early, taking Wyn with him. He brought her down to the Lake where they spent so many evenings together.

It wasn't yet winter, but it was always chilly by the lake. He accio'd a blanket and pulled it over them as they sat, cuddling, underneath 'their' tree. She let herself breathe in his aroma, dug her face into his chest, ate up all of the warmth and beauty that radiated from him. He kissed the top of her head, and sat quietly for a moment.

"What's wrong, Wyn?" he asked again. She sighed.

"Like I said, it's a lot of things," she said. He stiffened up a bit beneath her.

"You can tell me anything, Wyn. You know that."

"I know, it's just that…" she stopped and shook her head. "I have this gut feeling… And recently, it's turned into more than that. I can't sleep. Whenever I close my eyes, sharp pain or screaming will wake me up. And I talked to Professor Dumbledore about it, and he wants me to report to him whenever something happens. And it gets stronger around certain people."

It was true. Around Cedric her pain was intense, but when she was around Neville it was rather dull. Sometimes when she was with Harry she felt it, but it was miniscule. Almost like it was someone other than Harry whose pain she was tapping into. Even when she was around Dumbledore the pain had been stronger than usual. Others, too, some noticeable, others barely, some none at all. It was as if she could feel all of their pains, or future pains.

She looked at Cedric. He was looking over at the lake.

"Stronger around who?" she was quiet. Maybe if she didn't admit it to him… "Stronger around who?" he repeated with more authority.

"No one you know," she said quietly, becoming aware of how tense he was. He took his hands from around her and turned her so she was looking him in the eye.

"What does it mean?" he asked desperately. She shook her head.

"I don't know. It seems like I'm feeling what people will feel in the future…"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course not," she said. "I have no idea what this is about," she hunkered back down against Cedric. They sat there in an awkward silence for a moment. "Do you feel particularly empty today?" she asked him aimlessly. He was quiet for a moment.

"Yeah. I miss him."

"I miss him more than usual today. There are some things that I could only ever talk to him about… I need him for stuff like this," she said in just above a whisper.

"I know what you mean," Cedric said back. They lapsed back into silence again, but this time it was a loving, warm silence, in memory of someone they had both loved; Kip Adworth.

"You said there were a lot of things that were wrong," Cedric said after a few minutes. Wyn nodded.

"I don't know who to talk to. Everyone is so much different now," she said. "And I have a lot of stuff I need to talk about."

"Like what?" she loved this. Just talking to Cedric and sorting things out. It made her feel like maybe things could be all right, something she hadn't felt in a long time.

"Did Kip ever tell you about the Longbottoms?" she asked him.

"No. What about them?"

"They were our Godparents. And my parents are Neville's Godparents, meaning that we are God siblings. His Grams didn't want him to know, so our parents told us never to tell anyone, especially Neville. But I told McGonagall today. I have no idea why… I'd been feeling especially guilty about it for a while, I suppose. But it was still strange.

"So then McGonagall went and told Dumbledore, and I had to tell Neville. Probably bloody mad at me now," she said with a sigh. Cedric didn't say anything. She pushed off the blanket and climbed out of Cedric's arms. He just stared at her blankly.

"That's a big thing to never tell me," he said harshly after a few minutes. Wyn didn't say anything. She just got up and walked away.

"Where are you going?" he called out after her.

"To beg Neville to forgive me and tell him to come home with us," she said as she stormed up to the castle.

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Neville was sitting in the Common Room, his nose buried into a letter. He looked absolutely furious. It made Wyn feel guiltier than she ever had before.

"Do you know what's wrong with Neville, Wyn?" Dean asked as she walked through the Portrait door. She nodded and looked over at him again. The common room was full; she couldn't talk to him right now. Unless…

"EVERYBODY OUT, NOW!" she yelled. She got strange looks from all over. "NO! OUT! NOW! UP TO YOUR ROOMS!" she heard grumbles from younger students, but since Wyn was the Gryffindor sweetheart they all filed up to their dorms. Neville started to, too, but Wyn stopped him. "Not you, Neville," she said. "I need to talk to you."

He turned around with a sigh and sat on a loveseat. As the last person filed out of the Common, she turned to him. She had thought that she would just explain herself to him and beg for forgiveness, but he started talking first.

"Grams was wrong," he said. She stared at him in disbelief. She was expecting him to blow up, to sit there silently, to say that he would never forgive her. But here he was with the opportunity to do all of those things, and he didn't say anything.

"Oh," was all she could manage to force out of her mouth.

"Yeah. If I hadn't been raised believing that my parents were the ultimate, that there was nothing wrong with them, that I was the only one who could carry on their legacy, I don't think I would have turned out like this," he said, running a hand through his curly brown hair.

"Erm," Wyn said, sitting next to him. "I called you here to beg for forgiveness. Do I need to?" she asked.

"Nope," he said, getting up. Wyn pulled him back down.

"Now that you know, I want you to know that I fully expect you to spend time with us over vacations." The smile on Neville's face was huge.

"Are you sure? Won't I be intruding?" she just smiled and pulled him into a hug.

"You're part of Alice and Frank. My parents loved them more than anything, except maybe each other. Nothing that would remind them of the people they used to be could ever be considered intruding. They always felt guilty about not being able to tell you," she said. "I'll write to them tonight, okay? I take it you were writing to your family when I came in?"

"Yeah."

"Well then, add in that you want to spend Christmas with us. It'll make Mum feel a lot better." Neville smiled brightly.

"Okay," he said enthusiastically. Wyn smiled and hugged him again.

"Welcome to the Adworth Family, Neville," she whispered into his ear. He, still smiling, got up and went to his dorm.

Wyn smiled. "ALL'S CLEAR DOWN HERE, GRYFFINDORS!" she screamed, "COME AND MILL AROUND USELESSLY IN THE COMMON ROOM!" she heard people practically running down the stairs, so she slipped up to her dorm unnoticed and fell fast asleep.

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WOOT WOOT! NEVVIE! HOORAH!

Now, I must warn you, the plot takes off. _Fast. _Be prepared for a bumpy 4th year folks.

Don't you just love that I'm going to leave you with _that _tasty tidbit?


	13. How To Say Hello To An Old Friend

Yes, I know I said Thrusday… but then I told NajaMoonshadow by the end of the weekend, and it's technically still the weekend… so…

Yeah.

'WEIRD AL' YANKOVIC RAWKS YOU!

I am so glad I bought that CD. Best investment I've ever made.

Yeah, so, enjoy this chapter… as much as you can…

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Wyn wandered around the Common room listlessly. Today the kids from Beauxbatons and Durmstang came.

"Wyn, will you please stop it?" Neville asked as he tirelessly read over the Herbology book Moody had given him. She glared at him. "What's wrong, anyways?" he asked her, putting the book down to give her his full attention. She sighed. Since she had told Neville, they had become really close. Even though Wyn loved it, Neville was good at knowing when she was nervous or angry. Too good. It was starting to bug her, especially when he knew about stuff with Cedric.

"I just… something's wrong," she said hesitantly.

"What?" he asked intently. Wyn collapsed onto the couch and leaned her head onto Neville's shoulder.

"I honestly have no idea… it's just that… something's _wrong,_ Neville. I can just feel it."

Unlike everyone else, Neville just nodded. He seemed to completely understand when she 'felt' something. He kissed her forehead and patted her hair. "Try not to read too much into, Wyn. It'll just make this year harder for you," Wyn smiled a bit and got off of the couch.

"I'm going to go drag Cedric down to the Lake. I'll see you at lunch," she said as she walked over to the portrait.

"Don't make me get Cal and the twins out there, and have a good time!" he yelled at her as she crawled out of the portrait. She smiled back at him.

"If you get them I'll kick their asses like I always do." The portrait door swung shut.

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"Cedric?" Wyn asked as they lay by the lake underneath their tree. Cedric pulled her closer to him and gently stroked her hair.

"Yes, Love?"

"I want to remind you of what you promised me when we got into this relationship," she said, pulling herself far enough out of his grasp so she could turn around and look him in the eye.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm going to remind you of what you promised me when we got into this relationship," she repeated. He looked at her rather blankly and Wyn sighed. "You said that you weren't going to enter the Triwizard Tournament of Champions."

"Oh, that," he said, avoiding her eyes and rubbing the back of his neck. Wyn shot up from her seat practically on his lap.

"What?" she hissed. He looked at her sheepishly.

"The 'Puffs kid of expect me to do it, you know, so we get some of the glory all of the other houses always seem to get," he said, fooling around with his hair.

"Well, then," she said angrily, "Make your choice. You can bring the glory that you seem to want so desperately, or you can respect the promise you made to me," her voice was murderous, and from the look she was giving him, he half expected her to bite off his head.

"Wyn, you know I will always choose you," he said, hoping that his disappointment wouldn't show in his voice. She loosened up a bit, but was still glaring at him.

"You can't block things like that out, Cedric. There was a reason I asked you not to enter, and it's not something that I can just explain," she said. "I just know something is wrong with this competition, Cedric. I know it. And I don't want you to get hurt. So, right now, promise me that you won't enter the competition," her voice went from angry to pleading in a moment. Cedric looked up at her with surprise written all over his face.

"Of course, Wyn. If you feel that strongly about it," he said, as he offered his hand to her. She took it haltingly but as soon as he laid her back on his lap, she felt a shooting pain all over.

"AUGH!" she cried as she rolled off of Cedric's lap. The pain lessened, but as soon as Cedric leaned over her, concerned words pouring from his lips, it intensified again.

"Wyn! Wyn! Are you okay?" he asked as she tried to roll farther away from him. He didn't take the hint and continued to follow close behind her. With all of her willpower, she managed to stand up.

"I'm fine, Cedric," she lied, "I just… have to go see Dumbledore." Cedric immediately raced over to her and threw her arm around his neck. She winced as the pain came back, stronger than ever.

"NO!" she cried out and brushed his arm off of her. When she saw the confused look on Cedric's face, she tried to think of something fast. "It's just, uh, something I have to do on my own," she said finally. Before Cedric could respond, she broke out into the fastest run she could manage, which wasn't very fast, all the way to Professor Dumbledore's office.

Wyn screamed through the halls, gaining strength as she got farther away from Cedric. She saw Malfoy out of the corner of her eye, trying to trip her, but she jumped over his extended leg, causing him great disappointment. She ran by Cho Chang and her group of useless adorers, not even stopping to talk to Mandy who had recently joined the Cho Cult. Usually, Mandy just ignored her and looked disgusted, but today she heard Mandy yell after her.

"WYN!" her footsteps echoed down the corridor behind her. "What's wrong?" Wyn said nothing, just kept on running as fast as she could. "Slow down!" Mandy pleaded from behind her. Wyn stopped short and turned to Mandy.

"I've got an issue to deal with right now, one that doesn't concern you. Now go back to your Queen Bee and pretend I don't exist like you have for the past month," she snarled, and without skipping a beat, she started running again.

"Wait! Wyn!" Mandy called after her. Unfortunately for Mandy, Wyn had already turned the corner and had her mind solely on getting to Dumbledore, to tell him what happened, to say what she had been trying to suppress.

The damned tournament was ruining everything…

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"Miss Adworth," he said as she stumbled into his office, still panting. "What brings you here?" she collapsed onto the nearest chair and looked at Dumbledore with all seriousness.

"I felt it today," was all she said. Dumbledore just nodded.

"Do you feel it often?"

"All of the time, but it was different today. I identified it with a specific person," she bit her lip, fighting back the tears that she knew were coming. Dumbledore looked at her, his face grave.

"Who?" was all he asked.

"Cedric," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Dumbledore's face fell.

"Are you sure?"

"Today I was with him down by the lake, and I had just told him why I didn't want him to enter the Tournament. He hugged me, and I felt unbelievable pain coursing through my entire body. I've never felt anything like it. When I ran up here to tell you, the farther away from him I got, the stronger I got. After the initial pain, I was almost too weak to stand, but the time I got up here I was sprinting at top speed. It's him, Professor Dumbledore," she said with certainty. She didn't want to know, but she did. After all, this had all started after the announcement and gotten worse after they were told when the other students were coming.

Dumbledore closed his eyes and looked at Fawkes. It seemed that he didn't want to hear what was coming next. "The Triwizard Tournament?" he asked, sounding desperately defeated. It made her nervous to hear him sounding so vulnerable. She nodded.

"Professor, I've told him why I don't want him to do it, and I hope that he listens to me, I want him to listen to me more than anything," she let a few tears escape from her eyes, "But it got worse after he said he wouldn't enter if I didn't want him to. I think that means that… that… he's not going to listen to me. That he just decided what he wants, and it's not to make me happy. I don't think he knows that yet, I think he has every intention of being loyal to his promise, but the allure will be too great," Dumbledore stopped her.

"I understand. You do not have to tell me things that are private; I just need to know about these pains. I think it is best if you start getting tutored in Divination," he said. Wyn nodded.

"I was going to ask you about that. You think it's a good idea?"

"Yes," he said gravely. Wyn got up suddenly.

"Should I go down to the Hospital Wing?" she asked him. He nodded.

"I'll tell Madame Pomfrey about your predicament, you should be out by tomorrow morning," he said quickly. She nodded and left his office, neither of them seeming particularly unhappy to have the meeting cut short.

"Elwyn," Madame Pomfrey said sympathetically when she saw her. Wyn smiled weakly.

"I've told you to call me Wyn, Madame Pom," she said with a small smile.

"Well," Madame Pomfrey smiled at her; "I suppose I do see you enough to call you by a nick name, don't I? And I hear this is going to get more frequent?" all traces of a smile disappeared from Wyn's face.

"I guess so," she said. They stood there awkwardly for a moment.

"Come, come. Let's lay you down. You don't hurt anymore, I trust, but you'll be exhausted. This will mostly just be a place for you to cool down after you feel it," she said. Wyn nodded and lay down on the bed that she usually had. Madame Pomfrey smiled at her.

"Do I need to take any potions?" she asked. Madame Pomfrey nodded.

"Just this one," she said. Wyn nodded and swallowed it as quickly as she could. It wasn't as awful as the crap that she usually had to cram down her throat, but it definitely wasn't pumpkin juice.

It was late, so she didn't have any visitors. The Hospital Wing seemed to be unusually quiet, so Madame Pomfrey sat on the chair stationed next to her bed.

"Have you felt it around anyone else?" Wyn looked down at her hands. She knew that someone would ask her this; she just hadn't thought it would be this soon. She didn't want to think about this, she didn't want to think about all of the times she had felt the now-familiar dull pain. Wyn nodded.

"I can't quite pinpoint it, but I feel it. It's faint, like it's far away, but I can still feel it. And I think I feel it around Neville. It's gotten stronger as I've gotten closer to him. I'm pretty sure that it's stronger around people that I love. It would explain why I feel it so strongly around Cedric," Madame Pomfrey smiled at her.

"You really love him?" she asked. Wyn laughed.

"He's such a bloody git, you know? And I don't want to, I never did, but no matter what he does wrong, he does so many things right. I miss him when I'm not around him, and a day isn't full unless I spend time in his arms. It's like I will never feel at home anywhere else but in his arms. Whenever I'm around him, I feel like nothing else matters. Nothing. I mean, sometimes I can even block the pain when I'm around him. But then… now more than ever, I don't _trust _him. He swore to me that he wouldn't enter the Tournament of Champions, but I know he's going to. It… it means more to him than I do. And that scares me… maybe even more than the pain," Wyn felt Madame Pomfrey go over to her bed and pull her into a tight hug, but she didn't feel anything else. She couldn't focus on anything except for what she had just admitted to herself.

Cedric could never love her as much as that damned contest. She didn't mean to, but before she could stop herself, there were tears pouring down her cheeks.

"Oh, Wyn," Madam Pomfrey said softly as she rubbed her back. Wyn just kept on crying. She knew pain. And she knew this pain, no matter how much she wished she didn't. It was the pain of a broken heart.

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It must have been nearly an hour later when someone else came into the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey asked Wyn is she was all right, and she said she was. She could tell Madame Pomfrey didn't believe her, but she went to go attend to the student anyway. Wyn didn't recognize the figure. Very unusual. Wyn knew almost everyone.

Usually, Wyn would have gotten up and introduced herself. She would have motioned the kid to the bed next to her. She would have talked to them to distract herself from her boredom. But not tonight. Tonight she wanted to feel bad for herself. More than anything, she just wanted to be able to wallow and think.

Vaguely, she heard the kid lay down in a bed close to hers. She closed her eyes and tried to stop crying, but she knew the kid could tell. _What the hell, _Wyn thought, _do I give a damn? _She answered no, so she pulled the covers of her bed over her head and let herself cry.

"Wyn?" Madame Pomfrey woke her the next morning. Groggily, Wyn sat up, feeling the puffiness of her eyes. She rubbed them desperately and let Madame Pomfrey hug her. "You can go to breakfast, dear," Pom said, helping her up. Wyn merely grunted.

"Can I change in your office?" she asked. Madame Pomfrey nodded. Blearily, Wyn conjured a pair of jeans, a Gryffindor T-shirt, and her robes and walked into Madame Pomfrey's office. After getting dressed quickly, she threw her hair up into a messy ponytail and headed down to the Dining Hall.

"Wyn," Madame Pomfrey called after her. Wyn stopped and turned around to face her. "Remember to come back after any particularly bad spurts, and don't forget to tell Dumbledore about any new feelings. He said that you're to come talk to him tomorrow evening about starting private Divination sessions. Wyn only nodded.

"Okay, Pom," she said and left.

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Wyn's forehead was throbbing. She couldn't believe it. She had left the Hospital Wing literally fifteen minutes ago, and she was having another bloody attack!

With all of her might, Wyn tried not to identify the person whose pain she was feeling. She didn't want to know. She couldn't. If she found out about anyone else, she thought she might explode. Since she didn't know whose pain it was, she chose to ignore what Madame Pomfrey had said. She would not go to Dumbledore. She didn't want to know all of this. She couldn't…

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Wyn looked around the Dining Hall. Of course, she chose today to be late. The first day when all of the Beauxbaton's and Durmstang kids would be eating here. She sighed and looked for an open spot. There was one next to Luna. Trusty old Luna, she hadn't talked to her in a while. It would be a good change of pace.

"Hello, Luna," she said as she plopped down next to her. Luna looked up from The Quibbler and smiled at her.

"Wyn, I haven't seen you in a while," she said amicably. Wyn smiled apologetically.

"I know! I totally abandoned you this year, didn't I?"

"Oh, don't worry about it, Wyn. I knew you'd come crawling back to me."

"Yes, well, you have a good gut now, don't you?"

"The best." Wyn stopped and looked at her. Yes, Luna did have a good gut, and she trusted it more than anyone she knew. She sighed.

"Do you ever wish you didn't?" she asked. Luna looked at her, eyebrow raised.

"Why would I wish that?"

"Isn't it kind of a burden sometimes?"

"Well I guess so, but all gifts are. You can't get anything without paying some sort of price. You just have to know that what you're getting is better than what you're losing," Luna continued looking at her. Like, like she _knew. _Luna _knew _something was wrong.

"What if you don't? What if I don't believe that what I'm getting is better than what I'm losing?"

"I don't know, Wyn. I've always liked my gifts, no matter how weird they made me. These are the things that make me me. I just have to embrace them, because they aren't going anywhere. You have to learn how to do that, too, Wyn. Or you'll drive yourself crazy," Luna responded. Wyn said nothing, just swallowed some pumpkin juice and thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a waft of strong perfume and giggling. She didn't look up, she knew who it was. Only one person wore that much perfume, and she wasn't in the mood for her.

"Cho, I'm not in the mood to kick your ass right now. Do us both a favor and piss off," she said, poison in her voice. Cho feigned innocence.

"Oh, now, Wyn! That's no way to say hello to an old friend!"

"You're right, it's not," Wyn said as she got up from her seat. She turned to face Cho, smirking and looking as perfect as ever. "This is," without a moment's hesitation, she pulled back and punched her as hard as she possibly could. All of her friends gasped as Cho fell back into them, and when they saw blood running out of her nose, they shrieked and ran away. "Good to know that you've got truly _loyal _friends. I told you, Cho, I'm not in the mood to mess around."

"MISS ADWORTH!" Professor McGonagall screeched as she ran over to the Ravenclaw table, followed closely by Professor Flitwick. "What is the meaning of this?" Wyn shrugged.

"I don't know, Professor," she said.

"Is that the best excuse you've got?" McGonagall said, turning beet red.

"I don't have an excuse. I punched her," flabbergasted, Professor McGonagall opened and closed her mouth like a fish.

"One week of detention and ten points from Gryffindor, Miss Adworth!" she managed to get out. Wyn shrugged.

"Whatever. I feel better now. Thanks, Highness," she said to Cho sarcastically as she walked away, Luna at her heels.

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Okay, well. I'm sorry, Lo. Truly, I really am… but Wyn could be wrong, you know…

Miri AND Lo, I didn't get rid of the pains… too major a part of my plot… Won't be getting rid of it anytime soon, either. Sorry if it's kind of Sue-ish. I agree with that, actually.

THANK YOU TO MIRI, LO, AND NAJAMOONSHADOW FOR REVIEWING! I LOVE YOU ALL! HAVE A COOKIE! (Since I haven't handed out cookies for reviewing in a while…)

BUT ONTO THE HAPPINESS:

LUNA LUNA LUNA LUNA LUNA LUNA LUNA!!!!!!! WOOT WOOT!!!! LUUUUNNNNAAAAA!!!!! And….

WYN TOTALLY JUST PUNCHED CHO CHANG IN THE FACE! DUDE! GO WYN! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH I WANT TO PUNCH THAT BLOODY BRAT?!?!

Yesssss… Phear.

THANKS FOR READING, NOW GO AND REVIEW!

(I just really love my PANCREAS!)

-Raven


	14. Talon: Interior Decorator

Okay, so this is freakishly long. Deal with it. In this chapter we introduce some new characters… yes, original new characters. Seeing as Wyn is very outgoing, I figured she would probably make some friends from other schools… she did say she liked that part of the Tournament of Champions. 

Just a warning, in case you were wondering. Oh, and I'm playing with POV's now. Heh... 'tis fun.

And here's the point when I pretty much abandon the Hufflepuffs, besides, of course, Talon, my favorite, and Ernie, cause I like him better than Justin.

Yes, it works into a plot later on. I'm just not sure whether it will be in a different series, like an accompaniment or something, as I'm on page 130 in my writing, and we haven't even reached Christmas yet.

Oh, bloody joy.

Well, that'll give me more reason to love my readers, now, won't it?

Does anyone actually read these? Or do I just write them 'cause I'm spiffed?

(But I'm spiffed anyways, so does it really matter)?

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

_'Why do the rocking and rollers look as though they have not bathed?'_

… I love my friends.

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**Talon's POV**

"Where's Wyn?" Talon asked with a yawn as he sat down at the Hufflepuff table.

"Who knows? She never sits with us anymore," Hannah whined.

"Oh, you wouldn't either, if you were dating Cedric Diggory," Susan said.

"I still don't see why she's dating that git," Justin snarled as he stabbed aimlessly at the area around his scrambled eggs.

"Oh, piss down, 'Stin," Ernie said amicably.

"'Piss down'? Oh, honestly, Ernie, you have to come up with some better sayings than 'piss down.'" Susan said.

"Oh, shut your trap, Sue."

Talon stopped listening. This would quickly turn into a brawl, the same one that they insisted on having every bloody morning. He was worried about Wyn. He knew no one else was, but there was something wrong with her. Looking down at the other end of the Hufflepuff table, he saw the she wasn't sitting with Cedric and his buddies like she usually was, either. And Cedric wasn't mysteriously missing, gone to go find her.

God, they were so perfect for each other, but it seemed like every obstacle in the world was put up to stop them from being together! The only thing that hadn't happened was family hating each other. Which would never happen, thankfully. He looked around again. Not at the Gryffindor table, not here…

He heard a gasp and turned quickly. There was Cho, falling back into some of her followers, one of whom, he was disgusted to see, was Mandy. And there was Wyn, standing with her hand still clenched into a fist. She sneered something before Professor McGonagall came over screeching. Something was definitely wrong with Wyn. She hated Cho, sure, but she never, _ever_, lost her temper.

As she stormed out of the Dining Hall with Luna Lovegood on her heels—_So that's where she was!—_Talon got up from his seat.

"Where are you going, Tal?" Hannah yelled at him.

"Something is wrong with Wyn, and no one seems to care except for me!" he yelled back at her. He continued to storm out into the hallway, not even noticing that all eyes were on him and Cedric, and the door Wyn had just gone out of.

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"Talon!" Cedric yelled after him. Talon didn't pay attention to him. _Where is she? _He thought desperately. _Damn it, Wyn! Why do you have all of these dumb little hiding places so you don't have to face us?_

"Talon!" Cedric yelled again. Talon's face lit up. He new her favorite spot; he knew exactly where she was. He darted around the corner and up several flights of stairs until he came to a door on the third floor. Before he opened the door, he listened for Cedric's footsteps. He didn't hear them, so he quietly opened the large door. The same door that used to hold the Sorcerer's Stone. It didn't anymore; it had been destroyed, but the rooms leading up to the place where the stone had been kept? Not so. Fluffy was still stationed over a trapdoor, and the rest of the rooms were there as well. His heart pounding, he pulled open the heavy door. _I hope Wyn's already been here… _he thought. The soft playing of a harp told him she had.

There was Fluffy, fast asleep, Wyn's enchanted harp playing softly. Quietly, Talon snuck over to the trapdoor in the ground. Fluffy did not disturb. He pulled it open and slipped down into what used to be a huge field of Devil's Snare. Long ago, Wyn had asked Talon how to change the area from Devil's Snare to something a little less dangerous. It was now a grass field.

Talon saw Wyn and Luna sitting in the corner, Wyn buried in Luna's lap. Something _was _wrong. He might not know much about girls, but he knew a thing or two about Wyn.

"Wyn, Luna?" he asked softly. Wyn's head shot up, but Luna didn't look surprised.

"Hello, Talon," she said calmly, keeping her eyes on Wyn's back. "I didn't think you'd come so soon. I thought it would take you longer to find Wyn's hiding place."

Wyn smiled a bit, visibly relieved that it was Talon. "He would know, he made this place for me," she said weakly. It shook Talon up a bit, to see Wyn this weak. She was _never _weak. She was either bouncy and fully awake, or completely out. Wyn went until she passed out—always. One thing Wyn never allowed herself to be was weak. There was no time for exceptions.

Talon walked over to where they sat. Wyn's eyes were red from crying. He pushed a stray lock of her chestnut brown hair behind her ear and smiled at her. "What's wrong, Wynnie?" he asked softly. She bit her lip and looked up at him.

"God, I only wish I knew," she said. Talon said nothing but kissed her forehead.

"You should go, Talon. You have Herbology next period, don't you?" Luna asked. Talon looked at her oddly.

"Yeah, you're right. I should. Come to the 'Puff Common Room later today, okay, Wyn?" Wyn nodded.

"I have to talk to Cedric, too," she said. "I was going to put it off…"

"Put it off," Luna said. "You won't have forever with him. Enjoy the time you have," once again, Wyn's eyes sparkled with tears.

"What?" Talon asked. He had no idea what they were talking about; Wyn and Cedric were perfect for each other, they would have the rest of their lives to enjoy each other!

"It's nothing, Tal. Just… I'll talk to you about it… later," she said quietly. Talon didn't press her; he knew it would just make her angry. Instead, he stood up.

"I like what I did to the place," he said with a wry smile as he opened the trapdoor.

**Wyn's POV**

"Are you ever going to tell him?" Luna asked. Wyn looked down at the grass. The same beautiful grassy field that Talon had made for her. God, she loved him. He was the most loyal and wonderful friend. It was times like this that reminded her of that. Only Talon would know where to find her. And Kip, possibly, if he were still alive.

She didn't deserve a friend like Talon right now. She had been acting like a bitch for a long time.

"Yeah, I will tell him," she said quietly. "But not now. I'll tell him after Cedric puts his name in the Goblet, so I won't sound like a complete idiot." Luna sighed.

"Talon would never think you were a complete idiot. He's smarter than that. And even more than that, he trusts you. More than you know. You completely underestimate him. Give him some credit. He, more than anyone, deserves it," Luna said. Wyn chuckled a bit.

"Yes, I guess you're right." They sat quietly, both thinking. "Should we go back? Professor Sprout already hates me, being late won't hurt her opinion of me, or anything," she said. Luna laughed.

"None of the teachers hate you. Not even Snape, which I know you were about to say. She just doesn't like you as much as you're used to. It happens," Luna smiled.

"Well, whatever. It won't hurt me too much, is all I'm saying," Wyn said.

"Yeah, I have charms this period and Professor Flitwick _is _my head of house. We can just go," she said, standing up and holding out her hand to Wyn. Wyn smiled and grabbed it. They quickly and quietly left the meadow that Wyn had become so fond of, and left the harp playing.

Everyone deserves sleep…

**(RAVEN: A concept that I have become blatantly aware of lately, thank you very much.)**

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"Miss Adworth, would you mind explaining your tardiness?" Professor Sprout asked as she walked into class over 30 minutes late.

"Professor Dumbledore will probably tell the staff about it later," was all Wyn said. She sat down next to Neville. Professor Sprout didn't seem thrilled about the answer.

"Very well," she said finally. Neville started explaining what they had been doing. Wyn interrupted him.

"This stuff is way over my head when I'm here for the entire lesson. Just tell me what to pull up," she said. Neville smiled.

"Pull up that one," he said, pointing at a small planty-thing-ish by another planty-thing-ish. Wyn grabbed it and pulled it up.

"Erm, now what?" she asked. Neville sighed and grabbed it from her.

"Just, don't touch anything. Please?" he asked. Wyn laughed.

"I always follow instructions from the Herbology King. Even though it is entirely your fault I'm in Advanced Herbology to begin with."

"If you had told me it was your _final _paper, I wouldn't have helped you!" Neville said irritably, deftly pulling up the planty-thing-ish. Wyn watched him with interest. She had always wanted to be good at Herbology, but she could not, for the life of her, get a handle on the plants. Plant speak was like jibberish to her.

"What are those planty-thing-ish's?" Wyn asked. Neville raised his eyebrow and looked at her oddly.

"You don't know?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I didn't know," Wyn said. Neville continued to look at her as though she were crazy.

"God, even with my paper, you shouldn't have gotten into Advanced Herbology! You shouldn't even have passed! These are Retophilia," he said, pulling one up and swinging it in front of Wyn.

"And what do they do?"

"You seriously cannot be my God sister," he said under his breath as he put the Retophilia, was it, in the dirt. After a moment, he sighed.

"I'll get you through this class if you'll get me through potions," he said. Wyn smiled.

"Your last year of potions. I'LL DO IT! I'LL DO IT!"

"MISS ADWORTH!"

"Sorry Professor," she said. Neville laughed and tried to teach her how to properly pick up a Retophilia.

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Two weeks later, Wyn was walking down the hall with Blaise and Luna. She had been spending most of her time she wasn't with Cedric with them. She found, much to her surprise, that she liked hanging out with the two of them more than the Hufflepuffs. Sure, Blaise and Luna spent about as much time fighting as laughing, but she loved them anyways. They were fabulous, loyal friends, and she was already as close to Luna as she had been to Mandy before she turned into a Cho Clone.

She did miss her friends. She let herself admit that. Mandy meant more to her than almost anything else in the world. Family came first, Cedric second, and Neville third, but when it came to friends there were none greater than Mandy. She supposed those days were over now, but Luna had proved to be a great secret-sharer, much to her surprise. And though she was still closer to Talon than Blaise, she trusted him more than she thought possible.

Much had changed since third year. She had fallen in love. Had her heart broken. Lost a best friend, gained another. She had traded the 'Puffs for a small group of misfits. But first, and most noticeably, she had lost an innocence that everyone thought would last forever. There was no longer the air of familiar innocence around her.

Well, usually.

"WHO LOVES SHORT-SHORTS?" Wyn screamed. Blaise and Luna both looked at her. She pulled out a pair of shorts and smirked when she saw Malfoy. Blaise immediately started laughing. Slowly, she walked over to Draco.

"What do you want, Adworth?" he sneered.

"MALFOY LOVES SHORT-SHORTS!" she screamed, charming his pants into a pair of girl's shorts.

"What the-" Malfoy looked down and glared at her. "Adworth…" he said.

"Malfoy," she responded happily as she bounded back to Luna and Blaise. "M'kay. That was a amusing. Lunch time ready yes go?" Before she got an answer she bounded down the hall. "Mis AMIGOS!" she yelled behind her. She could practically see Luna and Blaise rolling their eyes and ambling down the hall.

"Wyn!" Blaise yelled at her, "I'm not longer allowing you to drink coffee in the morning!"

"BWAHAHA! MY COFFEE!" she screeched as she ran into the Dining Hall.

She looked around, debating about where to sit. Blaise and Luna caught up to her and stood next to her.

"Where ever you want, Wynnie," Blaise said. Luna nodded.

"Losers without friends," Wyn muttered under her breath. Luna heard her.

"And bloody proud," Luna smiled and fussed with a lock of her blonde hair. Wyn looked around again. Talon wasn't sitting with the 'Puffs, so she ruled them out… Harry, Ron, and Hermione were gone, so there went Gryffindor…

"Let's go sit with the Durmstrang kids," she said. Luna opened her mouth to protest, but Wyn stopped her. "You'll make friends this year whether I have to physically force you to, Lovegood. You too, Z-B, so stop snickering. ONWARD MARCH!" the two reluctantly followed behind her, complaining all the while.

"Are you sure?"

"I don't feel like dealing with the 'Puffs today. Would we rather repeat the incident with Cho?" at this, both fell silent.

"Fine," Blaise finally said. They continued walking and came to a spot on the table that seemed to be empty. They walked up behind several guys, and Wyn politely tapped one on the shoulder. He turned around, surprised, but smiled.

"Hi. Do you speak English?" she asked him. He smiled, obviously amused by her slow speech.

"Yes," he said.

"Oh, good. I'm Wyn Adworth, this is Luna Lovegood, and that's Blaise Zambini. Do you mind if we sit here?" the boy shook his head and motioned for his friends to mske room for them. Wyn smiled and sat down in between him and a boy with black hair. They sat quietly for a moment before Wyn decided she had to break the silence.

"I'm really sorry if I act like a freak today, but I had coffee this morning. Some loon decided not to take it away from me," the boy smiled at her again. He had lovely black eyes that should have looked menacing, but managed to look kind. His hair was blonde, surprisingly, as Wyn thought it should have been black because of his eyes. His features were very severe, but not in a bad way. He was, she finally decided, very handsome.

"You are very… amusing," he said finally. "My name is Kristof."

"Nice to meet you, Kristof," Wyn said and turned to his friends. "What are your names?" they all seemed a bit intimidated. "Oh, come on. You're frightened by a 14-year-old girl?" she taunted. At that, they all shot up.

"No!" one said loudly.

"Then what's your name?"

"Averiy Balakirev," he said fiercely, sticking his hand across the table. Wyn rolled her eyes and shook it.

"No need to be formal," she said. She looked at him; he had blonde hair, rather like Kristof's, and blue eyes. Beautiful blue eyes, she noticed. His features were much softer than Kristof's, making him look more like a teenager than a young man. With Wyn's remark, he stiffened up a bit.

"Balakirev's are very formal when meeting young ladies," he said stiffly. Wyn giggled.

"Adworth's don't really care about formalness… just a warning," she said, smiling warmly. "And the rest of you lot," she said, eyeing the other boys that seemed to be interested in the conversation. "Going to let these two make you seem cowards?" she asked. They all sat up indignantly. One spoke up.

"Rodion Svatkowski," he smiled. Wyn didn't hide her surprise.

"A friendly one?" she said. He once again smiled and laughed. His laugh, like his voice, was deep and resonating. It sounded as though he would have a fantastic singing voice.

"Yes, I have heard that I am the 'friendly one' before. Not the, how do you say?"

"Outgoing?" Luna supplied. Rodion smiled.

"Yes, yes. That is it. I am not the outgoing one. That is Kristof. And Averiy is competitive," Averiy glared at him and Rodion smiled.

"And the rest of them don't have personalities," another boy said. "Except for me. I'm the funny one, so you'll want to hang around me. Honestly, all these guys are way too disciplined," Kristof sighed.

"No, it is not that we are too disciplined, it is that you are just a…"

"Punk?" Blaise suggested. Kristof laughed.

"Punk? Yes, I suppose punk would work," the boy smiled.

"I like that. Aleks the Punk. Yes, yes. That works all too well," Wyn looked at him. He had long, black hair and grey eyes. She noticed something else about him, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"What?" Aleks asked. Wyn shook her head.

"You look… not Russian," she said. He laughed.

"Born and raised in Russia," Aleks said, "But I am full-blooded English pureblood. Both of my parents went here," he said.

"Do you know what houses they were in?" she asked. He looked at her oddly. "There are four houses at Hogwarts, Gryffindor, the best one, Hufflepuff, the second best, Ravenclaw, the third best, and Slytherin, the evil house. And I could explain more about it, but I don't really feel like it right now—" Luna cut her off.

"Actually, Ravenclaw is the home for the quick-witted, intelligent, and interesting. Unlike that Gryffindor house. All you guys have is your outgoingness and outrageous ability to get in trouble," she said.

"And we still kick your guys' ass at the House Cup every year, don't we?" she asked. Luna looked at Blaise expectantly.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to defend your house?"

"Nope. I agree with Wyn. Except I think that Ravenclaw is better than Hufflepuff." Wyn snorted and looked at Aleks.

"So, did they ever mention it to you?"

"Yes. My father has told me he was a Slytherin. He seemed rather proud of it." Wyn frowned.

"Slytherin?" Wyn asked. The boy looked sheepish.

"Yes," he seemed reluctant to continue.

"Okay, just tell me one thing," she said. He nodded at her.

"Do you believe that you are above muggle-born's and half-bloods?" she asked. He looked faintly offended, but ended up smiling a bit.

"No. I suppose those are traits of Slytherin?" he asked. She nodded. "That sounds like my father," he said. Wyn nodded.

"What about your mum? Has she ever mentioned her house?" at this Aleks seemed to brighten up a bit.

"Yes, she did. But she never did around father. She said she was a Gryffindor. Was there a rivalry between those two houses?" he asked. Wyn nodded.

"There still is," she said. He sighed and Wyn turned her attention to the last two boys. One, like Kristof, had blonde hair and black eyes. She let her gaze rest on him.

"You're Kristof's brother?" she asked. He nodded. "D'ya talk?" she asked. He again nodded. "Doing a good job of proving it," she said. He sighed.

"Yakov," he said shortly.

"Not at all like your brother, are you?"

"And proud," Kristof supplied. Wyn smiled a bit. She looked around again.

"You," she said, pointing at the last boy. He had long blonde hair that hung over his pale brown eyes. "What's your name?"

In perfect English with no hint of an accent, he said, "My name is Stepan. These losers are my friends, I suppose." Wyn smiled at him.

"Good English," she commented.

"Yes. I spent a lot of time with Aleks' family when I was younger. Our Mum's were friends," he said.

"Good, now," Wyn said, "Luna and Blaise get to make small talk," Blaise glared at her, but Luna jumped at the opportunity.

"Have any of you ever read The Quibbler?" she asked.

"Oh, don't go starting _that _again!" Blaise moaned. Luna glared at him. "Your father is a crackpot, whether or not you like it!" he said.

"Why you little--!" she said, grabbing a cup of coffee and threatening to hurl it at him.

"WRONG!" Wyn cut in, taking the coffee from Luna's hand. "I said small talk, not fight like you always do. SO!" she said, turning to Aleks, "You want to meet the masters of 'Punk'?" she asked.

"I already know them," Aleks said with a sly smile.

"If you think you already know them, you've obviously never met them. Up," she said. Aleks stood up with Wyn. The other boys stayed sitting. "It's an open invitation," she said, "Fred, George, Cal, and Lee are attention hogs anyways. They'll love this," she said. The other boys stood up, Luna taking up lead with the twins and Wyn and Blaise sulkily taking up the tail with Stepan and Yakov.

Wyn walked over to the Gryffindor table, definitely not unnoticed by the rest of the hall. It's hard to be stealthy when seven huge guys from another school are trailing behind you. She walked up behind Fred and George, motioning to Lee and Cal to stay quiet. They did. She looked at the group of guys, trying to decide who was the biggest out of all of them.

"Averiy," she whispered to him, "tap one of the red-heads on the shoulder," Averiy looked at her oddly but did what he was told. Wyn slipped behind him so that Fred, as that was the one Averiy had tapped, couldn't see her.

"Ye-AAAHHH!" he screamed. Wyn started cracking up and came out from behind Averiy.

"You remind me why I'm your friend," she said with a smile.

"WYN!" he whined. George cut him off.

"You made him look like an idiot! Excellent!" Wyn heard Aleks laugh behind her. She pulled him up.

"Hey, Fred, George, this is the Durmstrang version of you guys," she said happily. George looked at them, as did Fred.

"We're sexier," Fred said.

"Much sexier," finished George. Aleks laughed.

"You think that you two scrawny excuses for Punks can give _me_ a run for the money?" Aleks scoffed. "You stand no chance." Fred and George smiled.

"Oh, it's on now, pretty Durmstrang boy!" he said, holding out his hand for Aleks to shake. Aleks shook it and fake glared at him.

"May the best man win," he said.

"Don't worry, we will," Fred and George said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed. They started talking amicably, and soon the boys were off to one of their 'spots.' They invited Aleks to join them, but he declined. Just then, Wyn heard someone yelling.

"GODDAMN IT, ZABINI! YOU ARE SO BLOODY ARROGANT!" Luna screeched. Blaise just looked at her.

"And you're bloody crazy. So we're even," he said, turning away from her. Wyn sighed and turned to the Durmstrang boys.

"Ditch them and let me show you guys the school?" she asked. Kristof smiled.

"Sounds good, " he said. She smiled and began to walk out of the Dining Hall.

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So, to anyone who even bothers reviewing, who's your favorite? Personally, I'm somewhere in between Yakov and Aleks, with my favorite after them being Rodion. One of the ones that I don't write about much…

I'll be fixing that…

REVIEW, POR FAVOR, CHICOS! MUCHAS GRACIAS.

(By the way, this is my longest chapter besides the first installment. THAT was an eyeful, wasn't it?)

-RAVEN


	15. Yakov Talks?

Okay, I was going to get this out sooner, but swim team sort of ate my free time. Grrr… So, anyways, here's chapter… uh… whatever chapter we're on. (I'm observant, ain't I?)

I realized that I haven't been putting disclaimers on my stories lately. So, here it goes.

My lawyers and I disagree on many topics. (These I will not go into, they are much too numerous). However, we do agree on one thing, (however reluctant I may be to give it to them): I do not, nor have I ever, owned Harry Potter. The Durmstrang boys and the Adworth's are mine, the rest is from the mind of JK Rowling.

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Days later, between all of their crazy schedules, Wyn had only managed to show the Durmstrang boys half of the school. And that was just the inside. It was a Saturday, so Wyn decided to take them outside to show them the grounds. They were wandering down to the lake, as it was Wyn's favorite place on Hogwart's grounds.

It surprised Wyn how fast she had become close to the six boys in less than a week. They fell into a familiar rhythm quickly, and soon it was as though they were close friends. There was one subject, though, that they had yet to broach…

"THE LAKE!" Wyn said as she flopped down underneath a tree by the shore. She looked at the boys and they flopped down next to her. "We don't have classes today, they start back up the day after tomorrow, so is there anything you guys want to see?" she asked. They looked at each other and smiled. Kristof, who Wyn had pinned as the spokesman of the group, spoke up.

"The Quidditch Pitch," he said. Wyn smiled.

"My kind of people!" she said happily as she hopped up from the tree. "Now or later?" she asked. They all immediately stood up and summoned their brooms.

"I'm thinking now," Kristof said. Wyn again smiled and summoned her own Nimbus 2001.

"What positions do you guys play?" she asked as she began to lead them to the Quidditch Pitch.

"Aleks and I play beater," Averiy said.

"Whoa, big surprise there. Averiy is a beater? Never would have guessed," Wyn smiled as the concept of sarcasm dawned on them.

"Very funny," Averiy pouted.

"Kristof, Stepan, and I are chasers," Yakov said, much to Wyn's surprise.

"It talks!" she said excitedly as she fell back to walk next to him. He blushed.

"I already said I talk," he said exasperatedly.

"No you didn't. You nodded when I asked if you talked," she said. He smiled a little bit.

"Kristof and this lot talk for me," he said, "But I have better English than him," he said.

"By the way, Aleks," she said, turning so she was facing him, "Was your father a beater?" Aleks nodded. "Slytherin beater my parents age…" she mused. When she looked up, she noticed he looked rather nervous. And very, _very _familiar. It had been days, and Wyn still couldn't place where she had seen him before. His black hair was very raven-like, and his grey eyes were laced with cold and hardship. He looked so vaguely familiar… like she had seen him in a picture, but she just couldn't place where that picture was. When he noticed the look on her face, he quickly wiped the nervous look off of his face. Wyn banished the thought that had just crept into her mind and turned to Rodion.

"So that you a seeker or a keeper," she said. He smiled.

"I am small at Durmstrang. Not here, I see, but at Durmstrang I am very small compared to the other boys. So I am a seeker." she nodded at his Firebolt.

"I have a friend with a Firebolt. Those are the greatest brooms ever. Smooth rider, if there ever was one," she said. "I'd spend my lifetime savings on one in a heartbeat," she said. Rodion smiled. "If my parents would let me get a hold of my money…" she rubbed her hands together and the boys laughed.

Wyn looked up to see where they were. They had just passed the Great Hall. "M'kay boys, this way," she said, turning right. They all obeyed. After a few more minutes of walking, they came to the Quidditch Pitch. Wyn looked around and saw that Malfoy, his goons, and some Durmstrang boys were flying around.

"Borzakov," Aleks hissed.

"Malfoy," Wyn followed suit and hissed. She was about to run onto the pitch, but Aleks and Averiy beat her to it. They yelled some stuff in what Wyn assumed was Russian, both turning red. The other boys just smirked. Malfoy came over to Wyn, taking advantage of the fact that the other boys were now going over to help Aleks and Averiy.

"Adworth. Even in a school filled with purebloods, you managed to find the biggest wusses in the whole damned school. Must take talent to be that big of a blood traitor," he said. Wyn smiled.

"I've told you before, I'll tell you again. I'm a blood traitor and bloody proud," she said quietly. Malfoy's smirk turned into a grimace.

"You'll learn to be a good pureblood," he hissed, "if it's the last thing I do!" Wyn said nothing but continued to stare him down.

"You say that like you have some sort of authority in my life," she said.

"Oh, but I do, Adworth. You have no idea how much authority I have on your life. But this year, you'll see," he said.

"You have no authority over my life. I will never do as you tell me. I will never be anything like you, and nothing you do to me can make me change!"

"You think that, Adworth. But you see, you have three huge weaknesses. And I know what they are," he walked away before Wyn could say anything. For a moment, nothing happened. But before she could even tell where it was coming from, she heard a blood-piercing scream and felt pain shooting all through her body. Nothing, not even the incident with Cedric just a few days ago, compared with the intense pain that was coursing through her body.

Wyn felt it for only a few seconds before she fell to her knees, her screams mixing into the ones she was already hearing. There was a flash of green light, and another scream. The pain grew more intense after the second scream, and Wyn felt herself growing limp. Then there was another scream, and another. More and more, with the pain getting more intense every second. Suddenly, the pain stopped and blackness wrapped all around her. She fought it no more, and gave into the wonderfully blank blackness.

**Aleks' POV**

Aleks couldn't help himself when he saw Borzakov. He hated him with every part of his being. "Borzakov," he hissed dangerously. Borzakov came down on his broom, his goblins following. Aleks was so wrapped up in Borzakov that he didn't even notice the three extra guys. Averiy walked up beside Aleks and they stood there, glowering at Borzakov.

"Black, Balakirev. Pleasure to see you again. With a new girlfriend, I see. Which one does she belong to? Black, I suppose. Always did like 'em young," he said, licking his lips and looking over at Wyn. Aleks could feel his blood boiling.

"Not a girlfriend," he managed to get out in a civil voice.

"Then she's open for business," he said gruffly.

"You sick bastard! Women aren't animals, they aren't trophies, and they aren't meant for show!" he hissed.

"You've had enough of them to know," Borzakov said, smirking.

"More than you, that's for sure, you sick pig!" Borzakov turned red and glared at Aleks.

"I AM NO PIG!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, you're right! I forgot that you're more along the lines of an ignorant, stupid, female cow!" he screamed. Borzakov turned red.

"You'll eat those words, Black," he said dangerously. Now, Aleks was aware of Kristof, Stepan, Yakov, and Rodion coming up next to him and Averiy.

"Watch it, Borzakov," Rodion hissed.

"Oh, and lovely little timid, sweet Svatkowski is here to save the day? I suggest you watch it, Svatkowski!"

At this, both groups broke out into rapid Russian cursing, throwing insults like there was no tomorrow. Out of the corner of his eye, Aleks saw a little blonde boy sneaking out from behind one of Borzakov's ninnies, but he paid him no mind. He hadn't said anything throughout the entire predicament, therefore, he was no problem.

The swearing continued and was about to escalate into violence, when a blood-curdling scream rang into the air. Aleks was so concentrated on the argument that he barely noticed and continued hurling insults, but he immediately felt Rodion tense up next to him. Rodion turned around and immediately ran back, causing Aleks to look behind him.

Wyn was collapsed face-first onto the ground, barely holding herself up with one arm and clutching her head with her other. Her screams filled the air, horrible, painful screams. The blonde kid was stopped in his tracks, looking at her in disbelief. Aleks turned without a second thought and ran over to the blonde kid.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" he shouted in Russian. They boy just stared at him, his eyes wide. Aleks calmed down enough to realize that the boy didn't speak Russian. "What did you do?" he said in just above a whisper. The boy's eyes went wide again.

"Nothing," he said.

"You lie," Aleks said, his calm voice being taken over by rage. He was about to punch him, when he heard Kristof yelling at him.

"ALEKS! COME!" Aleks snarled at the boy, and ran off after Kristof, who was at the back of the group of boys. Far in front ran Rodion, Wyn in his arms, completely passed out, and unaware of the sharp pain that was still shooting through her body.

**Wyn's POV**

Wyn woke up in the Hospital Wing two days later. Madame Pomfrey was talking in hushed tones with Professor Dumbledore, her hair disheveled and with stains all over her normally clean uniform. When Wyn sat up, she looked around groggily.

_Bloody hell, _she thought wearily, _What happened?_ She looked down at her body; she didn't looked physically hurt… She sat up and tried to get out of bed, but pain shot up her torso. Even though she tried not too, she cried out. Madame Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore immediately turned around, and Pom's eyes filled with tears when she saw Wyn trying to sit up.

"Oh, Elwyn!" she cried, rushing over to her and pulling her into a tight hug. "We really need to get you to those lessons!" she said. After a few minutes, Madame Pomfrey pulled back and looked at her. "You're so pale…" she whispered, brushing some of her chestnut brown hair out of her face.

"What happened?" she asked groggily, giving into the pain and laying back down.

"We don't know. We think that you were having some sort of vision—like the one you had about Mr. Diggory—but about many more people at the same time. It looks like you suffered from the Cruciatus curse several times. More than someone your age should be able to take," she said. Wyn said nothing, only nodded and closed her eyes.

"What time is it?"

"Eleven. Cedric was here for 36 straight hours before I finally kicked him out. And your friends from Durmstrang, the ones that brought you in, stayed with you until their Headmaster told them that they were acting like fools and made them leave. But they've still come back often. Oh, trust me, this room has been busier than anything. But there were classes today, and I made Cedric go. He didn't want to, mind you," she said and smiled. Wyn smiled a little bit too.

"When does the next class get out?"

"People will be back in a little over an hour," Madame Pomfrey said, looking right over her surface question.

"Thanks, Pom. I'm tired… I guess I'll go back to sleep," Wyn said. The words were barely out of her mouth when she collapsed onto her bed, deep asleep.

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"For the millionth time, Cedric, I'm fine," Wyn said, exasperated. Cedric was lying on her bed next to her with her head on his chest. His arms were wrapped around her, one of his hands absentmindedly playing with a lock of her hair. He kissed the top of her head again.

"You're not fine, Wyn! Stop saying that! I thought you were going to die," he whispered and closed his eyes. Wyn turned around so she was looking him in the eye.

"I'm not bloody ready to die yet," she said. "I will not die until I am blood ready to die, and when I die, it will not be without you!" she said fiercely. Cedric smiled a little bit and kissed her lightly.

"You swear I'll be with you?" he asked.

"Or I'll be joining you," she said.

"You can't ever leave me, Wynnie," he said quietly, kissing her again. Wyn said nothing, but put her head back onto his chest, taking in everything about him. God, she loved him so much. But she couldn't. Here he was sitting here, telling her over and over how much he loved her, telling her that he couldn't live without her, telling her that she could never leave him, but he was going to do something stupid to get himself killed. And she knew it. And more than that, she knew she couldn't stop it. She knew that she tried; she knew that it didn't work.

She stopped the tears that were welling in her eyes. She couldn't cry. He would know something was wrong, and she knew she couldn't lie to him. She never could. To hide her tears, she buried her head farther into Cedric's chest.

"I love you, Wyn," he said, letting one of his arms leave her side to stroke her hair. She couldn't stop her tears then. They poured out of her eyes silently. It killed her to here that.

_You love me, _she thought, _but you don't love me enough not to enter that bloody competition. You don't love me enough to give up that one thing. And I love you more than anything. I would give up anything for you, and you can't even give up that. _

She wanted to say that, but she couldn't. Instead, she came up so that Cedric could hear her and said, "I love you too, Cedric."

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Thanks for reading, if you've gotten this far, I beg of you, REVIEW! I'll love you forever, I'll mention you in the next chapter, and I just baked a fresh batch of cookies just for you!

Have a great Veteran's Day.

-RAVEN


	16. Blaise Zabini, The Slytherin, Giggles

I don't really like this chapter, but I don't hate it, either. The whole Talon/Ernie/Blaise/Luna scene is cheesy… I'm just too lazy to fix it. Bloody sue me.

I gots a new gameboy! Wootness!

If I owned this series, Remus and Sirius would be married. I wouldn't care about anything else, but Remus and Sirius would be married. End of story.

(And are they married? No. Therefore, I do not own the series).

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Later that day, Wyn convinced Cedric to leave. She really wanted to talk to Dumbledore and knew that she couldn't do it when Cedric was there. When Madame Pomfrey walked into the room, Wyn tried to sit up.

"Oh, do stop it, Wyn," Pom said, pushing her back down onto her pillow. "You need to lie down."

"Can you get Dumbledore? I'm afraid I won't have much time to talk to him after Cedric tells people I'm awake," she said quietly. Madame Pomfrey nodded.

"Of course, you're right. That popularity of yours certainly makes it hard for us," she said jokingly. Wyn smiled weakly.

"I just want to talk to him before they bombard me with questions. Really, I don't even understand what happened!"

"No one does, Wyn. We're all just guessing right now," she said. She bustled into her office.

Several minutes later, Dumbledore arrive and sat in a chair by her bed. "Miss Adworth," he said, "You're awake. We weren't sure for a while, it was rather dicey," Wyn nodded.

"I want to start training now," she said. Dumbledore smiled.

"I thought you would. Gregory Foxworth is coming over to talk to you about your training tomorrow," he said. Wyn nodded again. "Do you wish to know what happened?"

"If you know."

"I don't know, but I have a guess. I think that since your powers are new and you have very little, if any, control over them, that something triggered one foreseeing. If you had been trained, you would have been able to stop it right there, but since you aren't, many things flooded you at once. I believe, Miss Adworth, that you experienced the sensation of the Killing Curse several times over. It's a miracle that you're still alive. I think that the fact that you lived through this has something to do with your powers, I'm just not sure what," Wyn nodded.

"Okay. So basically, you can't explain it and I'm a freak of nature for being alive?" Dumbledore smiled.

"I suppose, if that's the way you want to look at it," he said.

"Makes sense to me," she said, smiling back at him. "Thanks Professor," she added. He nodded and stood up.

"After you are released from the Hospital Wing, you will come talk to me once a week and have meetings with Mr. Foxworth twice a week. If you ever experience any sort of vision or foreshadowing, come here immediately; don't try to get to my office. Madame Pomfrey will tell me."

"Okay, Professor," she said. He smiled.

"It seems that your friends will be here soon. I will leave you," he said. Wyn smiled.

"Thank you again, Professor," she said. He walked out of the Hospital Wing, and not two minutes later, Talon and Ernie came up.

"WYN!" they both yelled, coming over and hugging her gently. Wyn smiled at them.

"Hey guys. Where are the others?" Ernie looked around nervously, but Talon looked right at her and answered.

"Annie is heading up, Susan and Hannah are studying and said they'd be up in a couple of minutes, Mandy is being a bitch to no one's surprise, and Justin is snogging his new girlfriend, what's-her-face." Wyn bit her bottom lip a bit.

"The 'Puffs are kind of falling apart, aren't they?" she asked quietly.

"You were our glue," Talon said. "Annie never really like Hannah and Justin never really like any of the girls. We all hung out because we all loved you," he said. Wyn sighed.

"I hate shit like this," she said, rubbing her temples. Just then, Blaise poked his head around the corner. When he saw Wyn awake, his face lit up.

"I thought they were just rumors! You're awake!" he cried, running over and hugging her. "Oh God, Wyn. Drive us crazy, why don't you," he said. He added, whispering so only she could hear him, "Luna told me." Wyn nodded.

"Hey Blaise," she said weakly. "Haven't killed Luna in two days, have you?" she asked with one eye open. He laughed.

"Naw. We were both so worried about you we didn't even know what to argue about," he said, looking at her, concerned. "They're sure you're all right, aren't they?"

"Yes. I'm fine, Blaise," she said. He nodded and hugged her again.

"Luna's on her way up. Professor Flitwick has to talk to her because she hexed Malfoy horribly yesterday. It was bloody brilliant, just so you know," he said with a huge grin on his face. "You should've seen his goons. Absolutely speechless."

"There's my Luna!" she said happily, trying to sit up a little bit. Pain shot throughout her torso, so she gave up, and with a painful moan collapsed back onto the bed.

"Oi! Wyn!" Talon cried, gently lifting her up a little bit and changing her pillows so she didn't hurt herself. She smiled at him gratefully and closed her eyes.

"Oh, we can go if you're tired, Wynnie," Ernie said sympathetically, making to stand up. Wyn opened one eye.

"You will do no such thing, Ernie. Sit your but on this bed and stay there," she said severely. This made Talon laugh and even caused Blaise to giggle. Funny thing, to hear Blaise giggle. His giggle, in fact, made Wyn burst out laughing. Blaise was one to laugh or stay stoic, not giggle.

"What?" Blaise asked irritably.

"You giggled!" she laughed. Blaise blushed a little.

"I giggle!" he said indignantly. Wyn kept on laughing.

"Sorry! It's just so weird that Blaise Zabini, the Slytherin, giggles!" Talon and Ernie both burst out laughing with Wyn.

"Ha ha ha," he said, smiling at her all the same. "God, I've missed you, Wyn. Honestly, without you, all Luna and I do is stare at each other. We have absolutely nothing in common."

"Sure you do," she said happily.

"And what's that?"

"You're both in denial."

"About what?" he snapped. But as he said it, Luna walked into the room, looking around her dreamily. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Wyn awake.

"WYN!" she screeched, running over and throwing herself onto her best friend. "Oh, God, Wyn! You're back!" she cried into Wyn's shoulder, not removing her arms from around her waist.

"Luna," she said softly, sighing and stroking her beautiful blonde hair. "Hun," she tried again. Luna just grabbed her tighter.

"You've spoiled me by spending so much time with me," she said into her shoulder, "Now I've forgotten what it's like to be alone," Wyn felt Luna's hot tears on her shoulder.

"Boys," she said quietly.

"We'll be in the hall," Talon said immediately, dragging out Ernie and Blaise behind him. She turned to Luna and continued to stroke her hair. Finally, she pulled up Luna with all the strength she could muster so she was looking her in the eye.

"Luna, I have not spoiled you. I have given you what you have always deserved; a friend that loves you more than anything. Now listen to me: you are a wonderful girl. You are smart, beautiful, funny, perhaps even a bit loony. But more than anything, you are my best friend in the world. And being Elwyn Aderyn Adworth's best friend means one thing: no matter what happens, you will never be alone. _Never. _There are lots of things that I can't do, but no matter what, I make sure that my friends are never alone. That is something that no one—no one—deserves.

"The fact that you had to be alone only means one thing; that you don't ever deserve to go through it ever again. Don't ever, not even for a minute, think that I would leave you alone. You will never be alone, Luna, no matter what happens to me, or to anyone else. Do you hear me?" Luna looked at her, her eyes still overflowing with tears. She flung at Wyn again, her tears lessening after several minutes.

"Wyn," she said softly, "Thank you so much," Wyn smiled.

"There's nothing to thank me for. You are my best friend, and no matter what happens, I will always be with you. There is only one thing truer than family, and that is friendship."

Luna lifted herself up from Wyn's chest and smiled at her. She climbed off of her bed and sat there, playing with her sheets. Wyn smiled at her.

"Promise me you'll always remember that, Loony," she said. Luna nodded and laughed at the use of her nickname.

"I promise, Wyn. And… and you know that it holds true for me, right? I'm not as brave as you, and I'll never be like you, but no matter what happens, to either of us, I'll always be with you," Wyn felt her smile grow larger.

"Thanks, Luna," she said. Luna hugged her and Wyn propped herself up as much as she could without hurting herself.

"BLAISE, TALON, AND ERNIE! GET YOUR ARSES IN HERE!" she yelled. Several of the other people in the Hospital Wing looked at her angrily. "Oh, shove it," she said dismissively as the boys came in again.

"We all ready and spiffified?" Ernie asked happily as he bounded into the room with Talon and Blaise on his heels.

"Someone's hyper," Wyn commented lazily. Ernie laughed and smiled at her.

"Oh, you know it. Haven't gotten my Wyn doses lately. You were always the hyper one, you realize," he said. Wyn smiled.

"Should I come around to see you guys some time?" she asked.

"To see us!" Ernie said. Talon laughed.

"Yes, you should. And not only us. I've heard things have gotten pretty awkward in the girls' dorm." Wyn sighed.

"Stupid girls. Can't they just _pretend _to like each other?" Talon laughed rather bitterly.

"You have no idea what you just asked of them," Ernie snorted. Blaise looked at them oddly.

"I always thought you Hufflepuffs loved each other," he mused. Talon and Ernie both snorted—loudly.

"Pff. We all loved Wyn. We were willing to deal with each other. Ernie, Justin, and me are close, that's true, but the girls are divided. Annie and Fiona are close and Fiona hates Susan because she dated Gary Brussen in third year. Since Susan and Hey-Hey are so close, Hey has taken to hating both Annie and Fiona since that girl can hold a grudge like no other. Myself, I'm fond of Annie, but Susan and Hey seem to think that I'm completely and utterly devoted to them, which means that I'm not aloud to talk to Fiona or Annie. Justin likes Susan and Hey, and Ernie can't seem to make up his mind, which isn't helping matters at all. Now I think Susan and Annie are fighting over him," Ernie looked at him in alarm.

"I hate our house," he grumbled, falling onto a chair by Wyn's bed. Wyn laughed at him.

"Stop being drama kings," she said. "Lavender and I hate each other which in turn means that Padma and Lavender are constantly fighting about whether Padma is allowed to talk to me or not. At first, Lavender didn't hate Hermione, but then she realized that Ron liked Hermione and not her. So now she hates Hermione on that face that she is one of my good friends. Padma doesn't really care about any of us because we don't care about Harry as anything but a friend—she's liked him since first year—but then there's the boys dorm. Nevvie doesn't have any friends 'cept kind of Harry and Hermione. But Dean and Seamus are really close and Ron and Harry are really close. They just don't mix that well. They have a tendency to like the same girls. Hufflepuff is one big happy frickin' family compared to us Gryffies," Wyn sighed and the others chuckled a bit.

"Can only get worse, Wyn," Ernie smiled. "The hormones haven't even come into full affect yet," he smirked. Wyn groaned.

"I am sooooo glad I have a boyfriend already," she said happily. A pain in her gut reminded her that might not be true for much longer, but she pushed it down as best she could. Luna noticed her sudden paling and grabbed her hand. Talon and Ernie exchanged confused glances, and Blaise looked at her with compassion in his eyes. Wyn closed her eyes and let go of Luna's hand.

"One that loves you more than anything else in the whole world," she heard Cedric say. She opened her eyes as he walked in, glowing. Wyn smiled.

"So I've heard," she said quietly, as he walked over to her and kissed her lightly. A sharp pain shot through her body, but she quickly pushed it down. She was definitely getting better at that, if nothing else.

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For a long while, they all sat in the Hospital Wing talking amicably. Despite what Ernie and Talon had said, neither Hannah, Susan, or Annie ever showed up. Cal, Fred, George, Lee did; Neville did; Harry, Ron, and Hermione did; Justin finally came, even though he brought along his whiny little girlfriend, what's-her-face; and she even got visits from Padma and Seamus and Dean. But not her 'friends.' Not the three of the girls she used to trust more than anything, no.

Perhaps even more surprising than the 'Puffs not showing up was that the Durmstrang boys _did. _The Durmstrang kids and the Hogwarts kids had slightly different schedules, so when Wyn convinced Cedric, Ernie, Talon, Blaise, and Luna to go to class, the boys came in, talking in hushed tones in a Russian-like language. She looked up at them and smiled, noticing that none of them looked like they had any idea she was awake.

"I don't feel like reciting all of your names, so hey Durmstrang boys!" she said enthusiastically. Rodion turned to her first, a smile growing on his face. The rest of the boys were a little slower on the take up, but all smiled happily when they saw Wyn was up. In their typical fashion, Kristof was the one that spoke up.

"Wyn! You're awake!" he said happily, as he enchanted the bed to be bigger. All of the boys found a spot on the foot of her bed and smiled at her.

"I am very sorry we left you on the Quidditch Pitch," Rodion said, looking at her guiltily. She laughed rather bitterly.

"What happened to me had nothing to do with you guys, and very little to do with Malfoy. It has everything to do with me, and you shouldn't feel guilty about it. You wouldn't have been able to do anything about it, even if you hadn't gone and yelled at… whoever that was. Please don't feel guilty," she said. Rodion looked down but nodded. At this Aleks sighed and looked at him.

"Mate, if you weren't there, Wyn would've died," he said matter-of-factly. "You're the only one who wasn't concentrating solely on fighting with Borzakov. I never would've thought to look around, or at least I wouldn't have for a long time. By then Wyn probably would have been passed out or dead. You, of all of us, can't feel guilty. Get a grip," he said, suddenly finding his fingernails very interesting. Despite herself, Wyn laughed a little bit at this. She studied him intently and then spoke up.

"I take it you feel guilty, then?" she asked. Aleks blushed a bit and didn't look up. "It's none of your guys' fault," she said severely. They all nodded quietly, but none of them looked convinced. She laughed. "Surely you aren't all guilt-ridden?" she asked. No one said anything and Wyn sighed.

"How are you doing, anyhow?" Stepan asked.

"Erm, not too bad, I guess. Considering I suffered the equivalent of over seven Cruciatus curses," she said, becoming acutely aware of the faint pain in her torso, head, and… well, everywhere. All of the boys gasped when they heard the word 'seven.'

"Seven?" Yakov asked incredulously.

"That's the number at the moment," she said, "But when I woke up it was 'several' which turned into five, and now it's seven. And it's only been…" she looked up at the clock, "six hours since I woke up." She felt Yakov and Kristof cringe and she looked at them with questions in her eyes. For the first time, Kristof turned his head in shame, while Yakov looked at her head on.

"That is not easy to sustain. That curse is horribly hard on the body. You are a very strong girl," she looked at him, her eyes questioning him. He said nothing, but continued to look at her, his black eyes hiding no secrets, telling no lies, and letting her know something that he hardly ever told anyone. Wyn continued to study him, acutely puzzled for a long moment. She watched the way he looked desperate for her to understand, the way he wasn't looking down, but hardly seemed to be affected by her gaze. She watched the way he was intent on her, but very aware of his friends, as well. She watched the way he swatted at Kristof's hand on his knee. And then she knew.

"Oh, Yakov, Kristof," she said softly. All of Yakov's strength seemed to leave him, as he went to his brother's position, looking down at the sheets on the bed. An awkward silence filled the room, and all of the boys looked down at their hands. She joined in this activity. "It's amazing how much you never notice about your hands. You know, we have a saying 'I know it like the back of my hand,' but, tell me, what do you really know about the back of your hand? Not much at all, really. I couldn't tell you the lines on the back of my hand, or the number of hairs. What about the layers of skin over your knuckles? Could you ever even begin to tell someone how many layers there were? I know I couldn't. Really, the expression makes absolutely no sense," Wyn said. They all laughed lightly. Finally, Averiy spoke up.

"You are sure you are well?" he asked. She chuckled.

"For the hundredth time, _yes,_" she said, exasperated. Averiy chuckled back at her.

"So, then, you a fan of Viktor Krum's?" he asked. Wyn's eyes widened.

"Who isn't?" she asked excitedly. "He's only one of the greatest seekers of all time! And so young! He… wait. He goes to Durmstrang, doesn't he?" she asked. Averiy nodded. She squealed. "Do you know him?" Averiy smirked and Wyn looked at him with intense interest.

"You never asked what Stepan's last name was," he said simply. Wyn looked confused for a moment, and then turned to Stepan. His face was bright red and he was focusing on her bed. She studied his body language for a moment and then opened her mouth.

"Stepan Krum doesn't work quite as well as Viktor Krum," she said, "But then again, I suppose you don't want to be well known. Wish to have a down-home job, eh?" she asked. Stepan looked at her oddly.

"Yes," he said slowly. She nodded.

"Why do you play Quidditch if you don't want to be like him?" she asked. He blushed.

"How are you so good at knowing?" he asked. Wyn just shrugged.

"I always have been," she said simply. He looked down again and Wyn sighed. "No matter how long you look at those sheets, they're not going to change. And neither is the question I just asked."

"If I didn't play Quidditch, I wouldn't mean anything to my father. As it is, I hardly mean anything to him at all. He gave up his career because my mother got pregnant with my sister, Rose. When they had Viktor and I, he threw himself into teaching us his one true love: Quidditch.

"I will never be my brother, but I can be _something. _Which is more than I would be if I didn't play Quidditch," he said softly. Wyn nodded.

"What do you guys think of the school? The competition?"

Averiy launched, and the other guys laughed. "The competition will be amazing! At Durmstrang, we have many strong boys, but not many who are as, eh, what is the word? Cunning? Yes, cunning. Not many who are as cunning as the students and Gryffindor. And as for Beauxbatons, it seems as though they are… sneaky. As are we, I assure you. None of the older students are worth anything. A bunch of lazy, lying scoundrels. I cannot believe that is the sort of filth I am educated with. This is why I am so motivated to be the best. They cannot be the best! They are not worth it! Pureblood filth, spitting on those who are not worthy! No, I spit on them! Fools," he ranted, waving around his hands and making hand gestures that were occasionally quite obscene. With delight, Wyn noticed the looks on the faces of the other boys. She gave a questioning look to Rodion who shrugged and elbowed Averiy.

"I think Wyn gets it, do you not, Wyn?" he said politely. Averiy glared at him, but smiled as best he could at Wyn. She smiled back and leaned into her bed, surveying the scene in front of her.

"Is Viktor going to enter the contest, Stepan?" Wyn asked, leaning over to watch Stepan as he gave his answer.

"I am sure father would be most displeased if he did not," Stepan said stiffly, brushing a piece of brown hair out of his face. Wyn smiled sadly at him.

She spent the rest of the day talking animatedly with the boys about school, girls, and, of course, Quidditch. The word _family _wasn't mentioned the entire time. It was like a silent agreement; family was not a happy subject. Perhaps parts of it were happy, but overall, the only thing that came out of that talk was pain. The pain that they already felt everyday, intensified a thousand times.

It could never work. It never would. Families love each other, but with such love comes even greater loss, and unimaginable pain. All of these teenagers knew that pain, knew that silent boring hole in the very depths of their heart. It went from abuse to death, from abandonment to indifference, but they all felt it. And as they sat in the room that day, talking about nothing particularly important, they all knew it. And somehow, it was a comfort to all of them; knowing they had found others to talk to.

The strange things people who want to be loved find comfort in…

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Okies, so, read and bloody REVIEW. Damn it. DO IT. Grrr…. (Eets fayces)

Right, so, Lo, here's another chapter for you. If you'd so kindly review this chapter, I'll dedicate 17 to you. Until then… a cookie for you, my dear.


	17. Mashed Potato Monster and Wyn's Precious

I'm so, so, SO sorry it has taken me this long to update. I swear, I was going to update the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but then it just didn't happen… and my God, the writer's block… 

Here comes the tournament… buckle your seatbelts. It's gonna get bumpy in a chapter or two.

**THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO MY MOST LOYAL READER AND REVIEWER, LO22. Thank you so much for supporting this story from the very beginning and following it loyally—your support has gotten me through many a painful chapter. So, here's to you, Lo. Enjoy.**

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**Cedric's POV**

The Great Hall was loud and noisy, but Cedric heard none of the noise. He only heard his frantic thoughts. He had decided. It was the day he was going to put his name into the Goblet.

He slowly walked towards the large Goblet, trembling ever so slightly. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Luna and Blaise were both gone. Convenient. Talon wasn't there either, visiting Wyn, something that he should be doing right now. He could not believe he was about to do this.

Before he could have any second thoughts, he walked over to the Goblet, clutching a small piece of paper in his hands. On it there were six simple words, words that he knew would change his life:

_Cedric Diggory, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. _

He threw the paper into the Goblet's blue flames and watched as they rose above his head, engulfing the note. It didn't spit the paper back out. He heard a cheer from the Hufflepuff table, but he was hardly listening. The second the flames died down, he wanted to stick his hand into the Goblet and pull his name back out.

He had broken his promise.

The only thing Wyn had ever asked of him, and he hadn't been able to do it. He had to put his name in the bloody Goblet. He stared at it in disdain.

He wanted to blame the Goblet. More than anything, he wanted to blame the Goblet. It's stupid allure—that was the reason he had put his name in! Then he listened to himself. The Goblet had absolutely nothing to do with it. _He_ had put his name in the Goblet. _He_ had been faced with the choice of Love or Fame, and _he_ chose Fame.

Blankly, he stared at the Goblet. He felt tears rise in his eyes. He had chosen Fame, when all he wanted was Wyn's love; when all he would ever want was her love and her acceptance. No amount of fame would ever give him what Wyn could; what Wyn already did.

He loved her, and he always had.

He wanted that moment back, but he didn't get it back. Instead, he walked back to the Hufflepuff Common Room and tried to pretend he had never done it.

But he had. He had chosen.

**Wyn's POV**

Wyn smiled at the number of people who had shown up for her release. It was amazing. She felt so abandoned, so tired, so lonely; but all of these people were here for her, to support her when she needed them. Everyone had come to get her out of the damned hospital wing, Cedric, her brother and his friends, Neville, Talon and Ernie, Justin and (grudgingly) his girlfriend, Blaise and Luna, the Trio, Susan and Hannah, Annie and Fiona, the Durmstrang boys, and nearly the entire Gryffindor house (minus Lavender).

"Guys, I could've just walked _by myself _to the Gryffindor bloody common room. I wouldn't collapse or anything, I swear," in response, Cedric pulled her closer to him, getting deathly glares from Cal.

"Hey, hey, hey! That's my sister you're practically suffocating!" he said protectively, pulling Wyn closer to him. Wyn sighed and stopped walking. The two boys kept on walking and hardly seemed to notice Wyn wasn't there. She fell into step with Neville and leaned on him. He smiled at her.

"They're protective, aren't they?" he asked her, amused. She smiled.

"Yeah. Slightly," she said. At this time, both boys realized that Wyn wasn't there at the same time. They both turned around wildly, looking for her. She laughed at them. "Honestly, you too. No wonder I like Neville better than both of you," she said. They both looked deeply hurt.

"Wyn! I'm your favorite brother!" Cal said.

"And I'm the greatest boyfriend ever!" Cedric whined. Wyn scoffed.

"Neville will make the greatest boyfriend ever, when I find a girl that I like enough to be with him," she said happily. "And as for you, Cal, Neville is my brother too, isn't he?" Cal's jaw dropped and Cedric just stared at her.

"WHAT?!" they both asked at the same time. Wyn couldn't help but laugh.

"You are so stupid," she said with a laugh. "Come here," she said to the two of them. They came up next to her and fell into her step.

"You didn't mean that, did you, Wyn?" Cedric asked her, kissing her forehead. She looked at him oddly.

"Neville will be a great boyfriend, but all girls think that their boyfriends are the best. Especially when they love them," she said, planting a kiss on his lips. He smiled at her and slung his arm around her shoulder

"Good. 'Else I might be forced to kill Longbottom," Wyn elbowed him in the stomach and smirked satisfactorily when he groaned. "Not so hard, Wynnie!" he whined. Wyn laughed at him.

"Can't take a beating from your girlfriend, eh?" she asked. He blushed.

"'Course I can. Just don't like to," he said, rubbing the part of his stomach where she had elbowed him. She laughed at him.

"Yeah, right. I'll keep that soft spot in mind," she said. Cedric groaned.

"Why can't you be like a normal girlfriend?"

"Because if I were normal you wouldn't like me."

"True, I suppose," he said. She smiled up at him.

"I'm adorable because I'm crazy and not normal," she said happily.

"Guess so, cause you are awfully adorable."

**Cedric's POV**

_How can you just act like nothing is wrong? How can you do that? No! Don't do that! Don't kiss her! It'll remind you of how much you love her! You threw it away, remember? You chose something else! _

_But I want to! I love her!_

_You chose, you bloody idiot. Of course you wouldn't listen to me. You never listen to me! You've gotten yourself into a load of shit. She'll never forgive you for that! You know it!_

_Maybe…_

_No she won't. You know that. You're screwing with yourself. She won't forgive you. That was the only thing she ever asked of you. The only thing. Ever. You don't even know why she asked you that!_

_But I—_

_Just shut up. You have no one to blame but yourself. _

_What about you?_

_I told you not to do it. You never listen to me. _

"Cedric?" Wyn asked, pulling him out of his thoughts. He turned to look at her and did so longingly. He felt his heart ache for the girl that was standing in front of him. He wanted her more than anything in the world, and he had given her up. He could never forgive himself. He loved her. He _loved _her. And he had given it up, all for that stupid Goblet! It was true that he wanted the Goblet, but he didn't want it more than Wyn! Nothing, nothing, would ever mean more to him than Wyn.

"Cedric?" she asked again. He smiled at her, his thoughts reading on his face. She knew something was wrong, and she seemed to know exactly what something was, but she didn't say anything.

"We're at the Common Room, Cedric. You can go now. The Durmstrang boys, Cal and the guys, Blaise, Luna, and I are eating by the lake tonight, come with us if you want. It's our dinner together before we have to go to our house tables for the announcement of the champions of the Triwizard Tournament," there was no anger in her voice, hardly any emotion at all. She did not flinch when she said Triwizard Tournament, but she wouldn't look at him. Quickly, she said the password and disappeared into the Gryffindor Common Room.

She didn't know… she couldn't know. He would never forgive himself for entering; he didn't know what he would do if she ever knew. But it looked like she did.

**Wyn's POV**

"BLARGH! I AM THE MASHED POTATO MONSTER! FEAR ME!" Wyn said as she jumped up with a spoonful of mashed potatoes in hand. "WHO WILL BE MY FIRST VICTIM?" she looked around at the group, and what a strange group it was. Five Gryffindor's, a Slytherin, a Ravenclaw, and six Durmstrang boys. She never would have guessed.

All of the boys visibly recoiled from her threat of mashed potatoes on their precious heads. She rolled her eyes. Luna, however, was looking at her with amusement.

"I've heard that Fliekites are quite fond of mashed potatoes," she said happily, gnawing on a piece of celery. Wyn burst out laughing.

"I love you, Loony," she said. "But, back to business. WHO WILL BE MY FIRST VICTIM?" all of the boys looked down. She surveyed them with eagle eyes. She finally settled her vision on Yakov.

"GRAAAHHHHH!!!!" she screeched as she flung the mashed potatoes straight at his blonde head. He shot up when he felt them hitting his head and grabbed some spaghetti. "Hey now!" Wyn protested, "That's below the belt! It'll stain!" she whined. Yakov grinned.

"DEAL WITH IT!" he cried as he flung some spaghetti straight at her. She screamed and dove behind Blaise, causing him to get covered with spaghetti.

"Oh, it's on now," Blaise said, grabbing more mashed potatoes.

"FOOD FIGHT!" Fred screamed. They all picked up their weapons of choice, except for Luna, who was watching them all with a smirk on her face. Wyn wiped it off of her by throwing pudding at her. Luna reached for the chocolate, but Wyn's face fell.

"Not chocolate! Chocolate is God! I worship chocolate! I bow to it and it's chocolaty goodness! You can't hurt it!" she pleaded. Luna smiled at her and grabbed a handful of chocolate chips.

"Sacrilege is fun," she said evilly.

"NOOOO!!! MY BABY!" Wyn screamed, throwing herself at Luna who laughed. She brought out a bowl of pudding that she had had behind her back the entire time and laughed herself silly when Wyn flew face first into it. Wyn, however, didn't seem to notice. She sat there, stroking her chocolate.

"Something is seriously wrong with you, Adworth," Luna remarked. Wyn smiled.

"My chocolate," she hissed, kissing it. "MINE!"

"Seriously wacked," Luna said, aimlessly tossing some sort of food over her shoulder and hitting Kristof straight on. Blaise turned and looked at her wordlessly.

"You've got a good arm!" he exclaimed, sliding down the grass, slippery with all sorts of slick foodstuffs, towards them. He tumbled into Luna who looked at him reproachfully.

"Is that all you ever think about?" she asked. He looked indignant.

"Of course not!" he said. She snorted.

"Doesn't seem like it," she said, picking up a piece of broccoli that had hit her head and throwing it at George. It hit right on. Again.

"You're good!" he insisted. She sighed, as did Wyn.

"I don't want to get into the conversation right now, guys," she said, putting down her precious chocolate for just a moment. Both snarled, but Wyn pulled them up and shoved food at both of them. They glared at each before beginning to chuck food. Wyn went to go get her chocolate, but found Yakov standing there, smirking and holding her chocolate.

"This really is delightful chocolate," he said with a smirk. She glared at him.

"MY CHOCOLATE!" she screamed, throwing herself at him. He laughed at her and pushed her back easily. "MY CHOCOLATE!" she screamed again.

"Wyn, Wyn, Wyn. There are more important things in life than chocolate," he said, taking a bite out of one of the bars. She bit his hand.

"NO! MY CHOCOLATE!" she screeched, tearing the chocolate out of his other hand and grabbing the piece from out of his mouth. "Mommy is here, precious," she said, gently rubbing her chocolate and kissing it again.

"Um… Wyn…?" she looked up to see a very confused Yakov. She held the chocolate up.

"It's my baby. I love it."

"Erm, okay."

"No one stands in between Elwyn Adworth and her chocolate. 'Tis MY chocolate," she said, switching between happy-go-lucky and growlingly serious so fast it was scary. "My chocolate," she repeated. Yakov looked at her strangely.

"Okay. No more touching Wyn's chocolate," he said.

"That's right," she said, grabbing a piece of chicken, "NOW RUN!" she screeched, chucking the chicken at him.

"Blargh!" he exclaimed, hurling some more unidentifiable objects at her.

"MWAHA!" she screeched as she headed into the main food fight, getting pelted with food. Yakov followed close behind her.

"Watch out!" Yakov yelled out as some sort of food came flying towards her. They both ducked.

"Team mates?" she asked. He nodded.

"Team mates," he agreed. They stood up at the same time and started hurling everything they could grab at the people closest to them. Wyn had never seen him happier than when he managed to pelt Kristof with a large ear of corn.

"OW! Bloody hell, Yakov!" he just smiled like an idiot and went after his older brother with something that looked like it used to be broccoli.

After a long food fight, the group collapsed into piles of unidentifiable food sources scattered on the grass.

"What the hell is _this?_" Blaise asked as he held up some sort of mush-covered… something. Luna laughed and knocked it out of his hand.

"Everyone up," she said. They all quickly obeyed and got to their feet. She surveyed the mess around us and took a deep breath. "Time to test _The Quibbler_'s spell section," she said.

"Pft. We're all doomed," Blaise mumbled. Luna shot him a look but didn't yell at him. She said a spell that Wyn didn't recognize, and all of the 'food' cleaned itself up. The things that weren't destroyed were put neatly back into the basket along with the sheet they were supposed to be eating on, cleaned up, of course.

"Underestimate my father," she muttered, sitting back down. Blaise glared at her and flopped down as far away from her as possible. Eventually, everyone was laying around in a circle, talking about goals (which George, Fred, Lee, and Cal all refused to take part in), and this years wild pranks, much to the pranksters' enjoyment.

"You are such prats," Wyn said lazily as she rolled onto her back. "Don't you care about anything but your final Hogwarts prank? We all know it's going to be bloody genius."

"If it's gonna be bloody brilliant, we have to start planning it now," George said easily. Wyn sighed.

"You have nine months."

"Enough time to make it perfect," Cal shot. Wyn looked at her brother, tilting her head uncomfortably far back.

"Whatever. Just not around me. I've got other stuff to worry about this year. Like putting you guys to shame at our first dance. I'll kick your asses with that prank," she said happily, remembering the plan she had been concocting since this time last year.

God, she was such a hypocrite.

Fred frowned and George leaned over to whisper something to Aleks, who chuckled. Fred and Aleks immediately went into a huddle, causing George to laugh immensely.

"What?" Fred said irritably as he raised his head from the huddle.

"You two are very predictable," George said. Fred scowled and reached over and hit his brother.

"And so are you," he said back. With that, Fred and Aleks returned to their huddle.

"Pft. Losers," Wyn said, turning back over to her stomach. Her neck was starting to hurt from all of the strange positions she had forced it into. Yakov was grinning at her dangerously, and she raised her eyebrow. He pulled out a bar of chocolate—a bar of _her _chocolate—and took a bite of it. Wyn immediately jumped on top of him.

"GRAAH!" he yelped.

"What did I say about my chocolate?" she asked as she elbowed him in the stomach and triumphantly took her chocolate back from him. Cal laughed at Yakov, rubbing his stomach and smiling sheepishly.

"It's so hard to resist!" he whined. Wyn, in spite of herself, laughed.

"Learn to resist it, mate," Cal said. Yakov beamed at him. "What?" he asked. Yakov just kept on smiling and sat up.

"I'm hungry. We didn't eat hardly any food!" he complained, conjuring some food. The other boys all immediately tuned into the conversation.

"Yes, Wyn," Aleks said eagerly, "More food!" Wyn sighed and conjured up some food for the rest of the boys.

"You're all so lazy! Why couldn't you just conjure up your own food like Yakov?" she asked as eleven hungry boys launched themselves at the food. Aleks looked up, beaming, his hands stuffed with all sorts of stuff.

"Because Yakov is trying to impress the English girls and we don't care," he said, stuffing some of the food into his mouth. He grabbed another piece of chicken and dragged Fred away from the food, getting into another huddle. Wyn looked at Yakov who blushed.

"Who're you interested in, then?" she asked, sticking her hand into the mess of boys and coming back up with a piece of bread. Yakov blushed again.

"No one," he said quickly. Wyn laughed at him.

"Oh, yeah bloody right. Lucky for you I don't feel like forcing you to tell me right now," she said, shifting her position ever so slightly.

"Forcing me?" he asked. Wyn smirked.

"I'm good at that," she said. Cal nodded.

"She is, mate," he said. "Bloody good. And, for the record, she's _really _good at setting people up because she's friends with absolutely everyone," Yakov smiled a little bit.

"I don't want to get set up," he said calmly. "I just want to enjoy the time in England before we have to go back home and everything goes back to normal." Wyn looked at him sympathetically, but said nothing.

"That's BRILLIANT, Aleks!" Fred suddenly shrieked. Everyone looked at him, but he didn't seem to notice. "It's on, to whoever the hell the Marauders were. Our last prank is going to own whatever their last prank was!" Fred said, shooting his fist into the air. Wyn laughed.

"I highly doubt that. I heard it was amazing," Fred looked at her incredulously.

"You know what it was?"

"Honestly. You never looked in the right places for the answers to your questions about the Marauders. It was right under you nose all the time. Or rather, right above it. Teaching you," she said, flicking her wand in his direction. Fred's nose shriveled up like it did when he was seriously thinking about something.

"One of the geniuses that were the Marauders _taught _us?" he asked. She nodded.

"Who?" George asked. Cal and Lee both sat up and looked at Wyn incredulously.

"Did you ever figure out the nickname Moony?" she asked. They all stared at her, mouths open. They shook their heads in unison. "Think about it, then. It answers your question. If you figure that out, I'll tell you who the rest of the Marauders were. And why you've never heard of them," she said, turning back to her conversation with Yakov.

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Ha, don't you just love my inability to keep things serious for too long? I had to throw the picnic bit in; I wanted more time with my beloved Durmstrang boys. They're so awesome. By far the best OC's I've created—at least in my opinion.

Oh, and the last bit… it'll come in. Don't you worry.

Thanks for reading and REVIEW, DAMNIT!


	18. Bloody Orgasmic for Angelina

Hello, all. This is a very short chapter, which explains why it's coming out not more than four days after I posted the last chapter. After the wait last time, I figured this was the least I could do to those who actually read this story…

To my lovely reviewers of late, I am horrible sorry that I have forgotten to reward you lately. So… Reese's. To everyone. I just got some for my secret Santa… hope she won't notice.

And it's about bloody time, isn't it? ITS TIME FOR THE TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS! And if you thought things were juicy before, just wait until the next chapter. (Evil grin) Now that I've got you interested in the chapter AFTER this, here's the thing leading up to the drama…

The Goblet of Fire.

I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, Fred and George would be main characters, and Lee would just be plain awesome, as usual.

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"Come on, Wyn! Just tell us!" Fred whined as she sat down next to them for the Triwizard announcement dinner the next night. She rolled her eyes.

"Just bloody think about it! It's not that hard, I promise you," she said, smiling as Harry, Hermione, and Ron joined them. Hermione laughed when she heard what Wyn had said.

"They don't ever think, do they?" she asked. Wyn laughed with her.

"Never. 'Specially not the twins. Now I won't just outright _tell _you, especially when it's that simple! Look right in front of you, you loons!" she said, exasperated. Lee pouted.

"Wynnie…" he pleaded.

"No!" she said tiredly. The boys looked at her indignantly and looked and Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "It's pointless to ask them," Wyn said knowingly. "They won't want me to tell you even _if _you guess."

"Guess what?" Harry asked.

"Who the Marauders were," she said simply. Harry looked at her, his mouth wide open.

"Wyn—"

"They're big now, Harry, and it's okay for them to know. If I can handle it, they can handle it. If they ever guess," she said, looking at them.

"You're mean!" Fred said indignantly.

"But you love me anyways. Now shut up and _guess."_

"Let us bloody think, Wyn!" Cal said.

"Whatever," she said, turning to her plate. She couldn't eat. Today was the day. This was the bloody _hour. _The hour when she would hear those bloody words…

"Wyn?" Hermione asked quietly, slipping into the seat next to her.

"I hate this bloody competition," she said, her voice barely a whisper.

"Why?"

"Cedric is a bloody idiot," she said quietly, shoving her plate out in front of her. "A huge bloody git. I bloody _hate _him right now," Hermione looked at her oddly.

"Wyn… what's—?" Wyn said nothing but shook her head.

"You'll see, Hermione," she said, not even in the mood to use the nickname 'Poof' that Hermione hated so desperately. She could tell Hermione didn't want to wait, but she did. She tried not to listen to the conversation that night, but she heard little bits and pieces.

"Hope it's Angelina," Fred said.

"So do I!" Hermione said. "Well, we'll soon know!" Wyn laid her head on the table. It wouldn't be Angelina. How she wished it would be Angelina. She would be bloody _orgasmic _if it were going to be Angelina. How she wished it would be anyone—_anyone_—other than who it was going to be. She tried to hold back a moan, but she just couldn't. Everyone stared at her oddly.

"What was that,"

"Wynner?" Fred and George asked. She just sunk farther down into her seat and waited for the feast to be over, for Dumbledore to go to the Goblet of Fire, for him to say what she already knew.

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The plates cleared. Wyn sat up. Everyone looked very interested now, and became even more interested when the headmasters stood up and moved over to the Goblet with Ludo Bagman and Mr. Crouch.

"Well, the Goblet is almost ready to make its decision. I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber where they will be receiving their first instructions," Wyn stared blankly at her plate, and was vaguely aware that the lights had dimmed.

She didn't care.

"Any second," Lee whispered. Wyn said nothing.

"The champion for Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum," Dumbledore read valiantly.

"That'll piss Step off to no end," Wyn mumbled. She could feel everyone looking at her. "He's Krum's younger brother," she said. The stares were still on her, but then the Goblet acted up again.

"The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour," Dumbledore said.

"It's her, Ron!" Harry yelled. Wyn couldn't hear the applause. She was just waiting for the horrible words to be said.

"Oh look, they're all disappointed," she heard Hermione say. Wyn didn't look up.

"The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory!" Dumbledore cried out. Wyn felt a familiar pain in her chest.

Wyn didn't waste a second, she stood up as quickly as she could and raced out of the Dining Hall.

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"Pom!" Wyn cried as she ran into the Hospital Wing, "Please tell me my bed isn't taken," she pleaded. She didn't see Madame Pomfrey, she was probably still at the feast, so she entered the Wing. There was no one in it. They had all escaped to the feast. Wyn collapsed onto her bed, but couldn't push away the throbbing in her temples.

"Wyn? Wyn honey, are you in here?" she heard Pom call out. She rolled over and looked at her, her eyes filled with tears and her entire body throbbing in pain.

"Pom, please tell me you have a potion to fix this," she said.

"I wish I did honey, but I'm a nurse—"

"I meant for the pain, Pom. The pain that has to do with the _thing. _Please tell me you a have potion to fix it," Wyn said. Madame Pomfrey immediately stood up.

"Oh, of course I do, dear! I didn't think you could still feel it! I'll be right back," she said, bouncing off of the bed and bustling off into her office. When she came back, Wyn was still crying and her body was still pulsating with pain.

"Where does it hurt, dear?" Madame Pomfrey asked as she took the lid off of the potion.

"Everywhere," she said and grimaced. Madame Pomfrey sighed and poured the entire contents of one potion bottle into a glass.

"Drink up, Wyn," she said. Wyn took the glass in her shaking hand and shoved it down her throat. It burned, but the pain immediately dulled. Wyn sighed and set the glass down on her bedside table. Pom leaned down over her and pulled her into a hug. Wyn leaned into her and breathed in her familiar motherly scent. Without even thinking about it, she swallowed her pride, closed her eyes, and sobbed.

Wyn finally fell asleep, eyes puffy and completely empty. She had cried out everything that she had to cry about. It had started out about Cedric, but then Cedric reminded her of Kip. She had cried about Kip in a way she hadn't cried in a long time. She had cried for the two of them for a long time, when she thought about the relationship they had had. The relationship that reminded her so strongly of the one she used to have with Mandy. Just the thought of Mandy when she was weak was enough to start her crying again.

When her head hit the pillow, Wyn could think about nothing but sleep. She was only vaguely of Madame Pomfrey tucking her in.

"Oh, Wyn," she said, kissing her forehead. Wyn closed her eyes and was almost asleep when she heard Pom saying something to herself. "I fear this isn't the only time we'll be doing this during the year."

It wasn't.

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Uh oh. The pain's getting worse…

If you've made it this far, make this review whore happy and REVIEW! I don't care what you say, just a simple 'hi, I'm reviewing' will do. Maybe you'll get into it more once you start, I know I did…

Much thanks to LeonaKat for sparkling up my review box in the last few chapters, it's greatly appreciated. And, as always, much thanks to Lo22 for being my biggest fan.

Review to get your own spiffed-out shout out. (What? That is not a shameless attempt to get the people who have me on their alerts/favorites list to review! How dare you suggest such a thing, Good Conscience! Oh, you too, Bad Conscience? Well, you're both wrong, so THERE!)

**NOTE: Last time I forgot to mention two other lovely reviewers, iPodDancin and wover03. Thank you guys so much for reviewing!**


	19. Snakes in a Bad Mood

And now we get to the point where writers block basically eats my soul. And then it gets melodramatic and I pretty much stop liking the story in general… Grr… 

Anyways, much thanks to all of my reviewers. You guys are amazing. Literally the only reason this story is still alive…

Do I sound like I own HP?

Nah, didn't think so.

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**Hermione's POV**

"Hasn't _anyone _seen Wyn?" Hermione asked angrily that morning during breakfast.

"You mean you haven't?" Cal asked, sounding concerned.

"Maybe she spent last night 'congratulating' Cedric," Ron said, still in a foul mood from last night. Cal shot death glares at him, as did Hermione.

"If she did, I'll kill 'em both," Cal said without a moment's hesitation.

"Honestly Ronald," Hermione said, "This isn't a joke! Wyn never just _leaves. _When she goes anywhere she tells me so I won't worry about her!" Cal was now looking seriously worried. He went pale.

"You don't seriously think she and Cedric… you know…" he said. Hermione looked down. It was kind of starting to look like it. Just as the awkward silence settled over the table, Talon, Wyn, and Blaise stormed over to the table.

"DoyouknowwhereWynis?" Talon said in one breath.

"Huh?" Hermione asked.

"Do. You. Know. Where. Wyn. Is?" Blaise asked, trying his hardest to stay calm and not doing too good.

"No idea. We were just talking about that. You don't think she and Cedric…" she trailed off and looked at Cal uneasily. He was stabbing sausage with a very intimidating looking knife.

"Are you sure?" Talon asked softly, going paler than Cal. Hermione nodded hesitantly—Wyn had left sometime during the feast last night, she wasn't sure when, and hadn't come to their dorm all night.

"We're worried about her," Luna said. There were—were there? —yes, there were. There were _tears_ in her eyes. Hermione blinked for a moment, before she decided to do what she did best: rationalize.

"Why? I mean she always tells me where she's going but—"

"Look, I know Wyn tells you a lot, but she doesn't tell you everything," Luna said quickly, tears that were lodged in the corner of her eyes now streaming down her face. "She made Cedric promise that he wouldn't enter the competition… and, well, we all know that he did…"

Talon, without any notice or hesitation, turned tail and ran out of the Great Hall. Luna and Blaise started to do the same, but Hermione grabbed Blaise, as Luna was just out of her grasp.

"Why would she make Cedric promise something like that?"

"Wyn doesn't doubt herself, and she doesn't doubt her gut."

Blaise immediately darted out of the Great Hall, only slightly behind Luna and Talon, who were already doing what appeared to be arguing over where to look first. Blaise joined them, said something quickly, and all three of them darted in the same direction, leaving three very confused, and one visibly angry, Gryffindors.

**T****alon's POV**

Talon was absolutely frantic. He could not find Wyn. Anywhere. This was not like Wyn. Wyn did not disappear. Not for this long, at least. Sure, she drove them all crazy by randomly disappearing, but she always told someone she needed 'to be alone' for a while. She did not just pick up and leave. That wasn't Wyn's style. She hated worrying people.

He had never been so worried in his entire freaking life.

God! Where in the hell _was _she? He had looked everywhere! He had sent scouts into all of the Gryffindor dormitories, all of the Hufflepuff dormitories, all of the Ravenclaw dormitories—he had even told Blaise to go look at the Slytherin's rooms! She wasn't by the lake, she wasn't in any of her 'spots', she wasn't at Hagrid's, she wasn't randomly outside, she wasn't at Hogsmeade, she wasn't in Dumbledore's office, she wasn't… wait.

He stopped suddenly, causing Luna and Blaise, who had been running breathlessly after him, to come to a crashing halt behind him and crash into one another.

"The Hospital Wing!" he sputtered as he started sprinting in the opposite direction.

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"MADAME POMFREY!" Talon yelled as he screamed around the last corner before the Hospital wing. "MADAME POMFREY!" he came into the Wing and drew to a stop. Madame Pomfrey came out from her office and smiled at him warmly when she saw them.

"Wyn's in her bed," Madame Pomfrey said, "She was still asleep last time I checked. Best be quiet. She had a rough night last night." Talon, Blaise, and Luna just stood there; their mouths open, gaping.

"She's been here the entire time?" Luna finally asked, her voice just a whisper. Madame Pomfrey looked at them oddly.

"Yes, she had some… pains regarding her condition last night. I'm assuming you know what her condition is?" all three exchanged looks. They knew Wyn was close to Madame Pomfrey, but none of them would have guessed that she would tell something like that to her.

"Erm… yes," Talon said quietly.

"Wyn's still sleeping, and she needs to sleep more. However, she will want to see you, as well as her brother, when she wakes up. I'll owl you when she comes to. Try to stay in the Hufflepuff common room, if you can. Also, if you can, please tell her brother where she is. He needs to know now. I won't let her keep secrets like this from her family. Other than her family, it's her business who she tells, but her family needs to know. That includes Cal," the three looked at her oddly for a moment, but quickly nodded.

"Yes, Madame Pomfrey," Talon said quietly.

"Alright, thanks. I'll owl you."

**Wyn's POV**

Madame Pomfrey was very good at lying. It was not a skill Wyn had ever thought about her possessing, but she did. She was an amazing liar. And boy, did it come in handy. She did not want to talk with Talon, Blaise, and Luna right now. No, they all knew her too well. If it had been her brother and the boys, she would have let them come in. She needed to have a talk with them and they would all be too distracted by what she had to say to pester her about Cedric.

Sometimes it sucked to have friends who knew her so well.

"Pom?" she asked. Madame Pomfrey walked into the room and smiled at Wyn.

"Yes, Wyn?" she asked, walking over to a first year Hufflepuff who had run into some 7th year Slytherins who were in a bad mood.

"Can you lend me your owl? I've got a spell so it'll be able to track down Cal, I really do need to talk to him and the boys," she said. Madame Pomfrey nodded, poured a potion for the first year into a goblet, and bustled into her office.

When she came back, it was with her dirty-snow owl, Whitley. "Here you are, Wyn. Are you sure the spell will work?" Wyn grabbed her wand, sitting on her bedside table, and said a quick spell.

"Positive. I got it from Professor Dumbledore," she said. Pomfrey nodded and turned back to the first year.

_Cal,_

_I'm in the Hospital Wing. I need to talk to you and the boys. Please come alone first. We'll owl the boys when we're ready._

_Sorry it's brief. Also sorry if Whitley pecks you. She's an impatient owl._

Wyn 

Several minutes later, Cal came running into the Hospital Wing, looking bewildered.

"Wyn!" he cried, throwing himself onto her bed. She looked down at him strangely.

"Erm, Cal? It's been, what, ten hours since I saw you last?"

"They said that… they said Cedric broke his promise to you… I've never seen them so worried, so I naturally assumed that something bad must have happened to you…" he trailed off. She looked him in the eye.

"Who said what, Cal?"

"Blaise, Luna, and Talon. They said that you made Cedric promise not to enter the Tournament of Champions… and then last night... and then they couldn't find you anywhere… and—" he stopped and buried his face into her blanket.

"Cal," she said softly. Cal looked up at her. "He did something stupid, and I just wanted to be alone so I could work it out. I'm sorry I worried everyone so much. But, honestly Cal, you know I would never do anything stupid like that," she said reassuringly. Cal continued to look at her, his eyes scanning over her visibly tired, worn, and tear-stained face. He sighed softly and grabbed her hand.

"You're not good at lying, Wyn. You never have been. And besides that, you've never been quite right when it comes to Cedric, Wyn. I know that, you know that, he knows that. I know you wouldn't ever mean to do something like that, but I think you could," Wyn looked down at her brother's words. What struck her was how true they were. She had always thought that Kip knew her the best of her brothers. Maybe she had been wrong.

Cal had certainly done more surprising things.

"Cal," she said softly, letting Cal engulf her in his arms. They were so warm, so comforting, so familiar. It reminded her of why she had slept in Cal's bed when she found out about Kip.

Maybe she had been looking at things all wrong. Cal wasn't here to remind her that Kip was gone; he was here to remind her that Kip was here. He was here to remind her that he loved her, that her family loved her, that even though Kip hadn't really followed through on sending signs, he loved her, too. More than anything. She knew when she laid in his arms and felt his tears fall against her skin that she had been wrong to avoid him because he reminded her of Kip. She should have been embracing him because he reminded her of Kip.

Perhaps things were going wrong. No—not perhaps. They were. Things were going horribly, horribly wrong. But in the arms of Cal, something was wonderfully, perfectly, right.

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"I don't need to go to the Hospital Wing, guys," Cedric said. Wyn automatically shot up in her bed and looked at Cal nervously. He wrung his hands together and immediately shot off of her bed and headed towards the door.

"Cal," she said softly. He turned and looked at her, his eyes full of anger. They softened a bit when he saw the way Wyn was looking at him.

"You can't possibly still love the git," he said angrily. She sighed. She couldn't, could she? She didn't love him anymore. She couldn't. Yet she knew she'd defend him to the end. She knew she was about to tell Cal not to hurt him too badly. She knew she would sneak glances at him when he wasn't looking at her, she knew she would be infinitely jealous is he ever started dating anyone else. Cal was obviously disgusted that she didn't answer him right away.

"He's a git, Wyn! A stupid git. He chose that _contest _over you! You can't possible love him anymore!"

"Cal, I couldn't admit that I loved him until this year, but I think I've always known. I know what he did was stupid, and I know what he did was wrong. But I love him, and I still do," she said softly. Cal frowned but went outside anyways.

"Get out of here," she heard Cal say, anger rising in his voice. She could practically see everyone stop in their tracks and look at him. It was a long moment before someone opened their mouth.

"He's hurt. Just let us into the Hospital Wing," a boys' voice said.

"Not a chance. He can go lick his wounds somewhere else, somewhere far, far away from my little sister," Cal said dangerously. There was another moment of silence, followed by some scuffling.

"I told you guys that I didn't need to go to the Hospital Wing," she heard Cedric say bitterly. His footsteps quickly walked away, but his were the only ones who left.

"We don't even know what he did, but he doesn't deserve to be treated the way you are treating him," a girl said. Cal said nothing, but returned to Wyn's bed.

"Don't even know what he did," he said bitterly.

"Not many people know what Cedric did, Cal," Wyn said. "I didn't just go around telling people the condition on which I started my relationship with him."

"Git."

"You've told me that, Cal. Calm down for a moment, will you? I'm the one who's just had their heart ripped in two and I'm comforting _you,_" she said, keeping the bitterness out of her voice very well.

"I know," Cal said, sounding ashamed. "But, you just… he just…" Wyn, despite herself, laughed a bit.

"I know, Cal," she said as she fell back into his arms.

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For anyone who's about to say that Cal is acting dumb… I know. Anyone who thinks Wyn is being overdramatic… I know. Anyone who thinks that all of Wyn's friends seriously need to get lives… I know. I just could not make this chapter work out nicely. It kept on acting bitchy, so, sorry, this is probably the worst chapter I'll ever put out in BHL. But I won't promise that, because my writers block is AMAZINGLY bad right now.

I beg all of thee to review. Big shout outs to MiriTheSpazz, lo22, LeonaKat, iPodDancin, and CelestialTear for reviewing last chapter. This is the second time I've mentioned my reviewers this chapter… but you guys are all amazing, and should continue to review cause… I'm a review whore, and I have no other reasons.


	20. If You End Up Killing Him

This is better than last chapter, but not great. Just, bear with me, please. Next chapter is actually pretty good, and the layout for the one after it is making me realllllyyy excited. So this whole 'OMG CAN SHE NO LONGER WRITE' thing is going to pass pretty soon.

Thanks to my lovely reviewers. You will be named at the bottom.

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"Seriously, Cal. I can handle breaking up with Cedric on my own. **(A/N: At which point I imagine Lo's gasps). **I don't need all of these bloody _bodyguards _to keep me safe. And, may I remind you, Bert is one of Cedric's best friends. He probably won't attack him on command. Besides that, I don't plan on attacking him at all. I'm telling him what he needs to be told," Wyn said, exasperated, as she sat down at the Gryffindor table followed closely by Luna and Blaise who were, in turn, followed by a large assortment of 6th and 7th year boys. Cal frowned at her.

"I demand you take at least one of these bodyguards," Cal said in all seriousness.

"I demand you drop this matter. No matter how much you don't want me to, I still love Cedric. This is going to hurt both of us enough as it is. I don't want to bring physical pain into the mix," Wyn said softly, looking down at her empty breakfast plate. Cal looked at her strangely.

"At least eat something," he pleaded. She looked thoroughly annoyed, but picked up a piece of toast.

"Happy?" she asked as she shoved the entire piece of toast into her mouth. She chewed it tiredly and carefully, finding her eyes attracted to her empty plate once again. It was a long while before she noticed the stares that were on her. She rolled her eyes and looked at George, who was staring at her expectantly.

"Why are you doing it if it makes you so sad?" he asked. Wyn didn't answer. Instead she downed some pumpkin juice and got up from the table. It took her a long moment to find her voice.

"Since when is George Weasley an expert on relationships?" she asked tiredly, gulping down the last of the pumpkin juice in her goblet. George didn't say anything. "That's pretty much what I thought," she said. But something in George's words rang true.

_Why **am** I doing this? _She asked herself sadly as she exited the Great Hall. _Can I really give up on him? Can I give up on what we have? Maybe I do know a future that is unchangeable, but perhaps what I really need to do is spend all the time that I can with him. Am I going about this all wrong? _She expected no answers, and got none. What she got was a headache and horribly lost inside the winding corridors of the school. Angrily, she plopped down on the floor, cursing herself for not paying closer attention to where she was going.

For a while, she tried to sort out where in the school she was, but she gave up on that once she realized she had taken a moving staircase somewhere along the trip. She'd have to do what she always did when she got lost in the bloody school, wander around until she recognized something. Grumbling more about her stupidity, Wyn got off of the floor and walked to the right. Not like it mattered much, anyways. She'd get to somewhere she recognized… eventually.

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Wyn was visibly tired and frustrated. She really hadn't eaten enough at breakfast, and she had been walking around, finding nothing that looked familiar, for over an hour. Beyond that, her mind was racing with thoughts of Cedric. The hallways all looked unfamiliar, the painting all looked unfamiliar, even the rugs seemed to have unfamiliar patterns. With a heavily distracted mind, she could hardly even bring herself to rack her brain for familiar scenes.

"Mef," Wyn said in defeat as she knocked her head against the wall. Cedric always did this to her. Whenever she had Cedric on her mind, she could concentrate on nothing else. Not even getting herself back to somewhere recognizable, apparently. "Why can't I get you out of my bloody head?" she asked herself quietly.

"Oh, Adworth. So nice to know that you like me so much. Although, I'm afraid I'm dating someone else at the moment," a very familiar voice said from behind Wyn. Wyn didn't even bother turning around.

"Shut up, Malfoy. I'm not in the bloody mood. Unless you know how to get me to the Great Hall from here, I suggest you walk away from me very, very slowly and don't look back," Wyn said, her head still against the cold stone wall. If she turned around, she would have seen Malfoy's familiar smirk turn into a confused grimace, but she didn't.

"I'm scared now, Adworth," Malfoy said, his voice slightly uneven.

"Yeah, well, I would be," Wyn said, bringing her head up to glare at Malfoy evenly. To her surprise, he looked down. "What, pretending you have a heart?" she asked bitterly, raising herself from the ground and starting off in the same direction she had been going before.

"You obviously have no idea where you're going," Malfoy said. Wyn ignored him and kept on walking.

"I told you, unless you know how to get me to the Great Hall—"

"I do," Malfoy said quickly. Wyn turned around to glare at him and continued to walk. "Well, if you don't want my help, I'll just go back to the Great Hall. That's where I told Crabbe and Goyle to wait," he said. Wyn could hear the smirk in his voice. Wyn said nothing, but turned to him, her arms crossed across her chest. He looked disappointed, but stepped in front of her and led the way to the Great Hall.

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"Here, Highness," Malfoy said sarcastically when they reached the Great Hall. Wyn said nothing, but took off for the Gryffindor common room. Wyn vaguely heard Malfoy mumble something, but paid it no mind. Careful to pay attention to where she was going, Wyn walked farther and farther away from the bustle of the Great Hall, and farther and farther away from the ice blue eyes that were watching her receding figure…

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"Got food?" Wyn asked as she crawled into the common room, her stomach complaining loudly about its lack of breakfast. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at her oddly.

"Nope," Harry finally said as Wyn threw herself onto the closest chair.

"Right then," she said. "Can I borrow the Marauders Map?" she asked. She, once again, received odd looks.

"How do you…?"

"Please, I'm Cal's little sister. I've known about the Marauders Map for years," Wyn said rather irritably. "Can I borrow it? I'll have it back to you by dinner."

"Yeah, just let me get it," Harry said, getting up to head to the boys' dorms. Hermione was still giving her questioning looks, which Wyn chose to ignore. Finally, Hermione sighed.

"Don't ignore me," she warned.

"Ignore what?" Wyn asked innocently, looking towards the boys' stairs to see if Harry had the map yet.

"Look at me, Wyn," Hermione said. Wyn looked at her, trying to bore a hole through her unusually annoying head. The girl could definitely be a pain.

"Yes, Poof?" she asked sweetly.

"Where were you?"

"Went for a walk and got lost," Wyn said, her eyes darting back to the stairs. Honestly, all she wanted to do was eat. She didn't need to be interrogated by her At-Hogwarts Mum. Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"I doubt that, Wyn darling. Who'd you run into?"

"Seriously, Poof. I got lost. It happens to the best of us," Wyn said irritably.

"Wyn, you've looked at that bloody map too many time to get lost in this school," Hermione said, her voice sounding just as impatient as Wyn felt. Wyn rolled her eyes.

"Look, Poof, I know you have the whole 'motherly' thing going on, but I don't really want to hear it right now. I'm hungry, tired, and really confused. And what the hell is taking Harry so long?" Wyn asked, getting up off of the couch and dragging herself up the boys' staircase.

"Yo! Harry! I want to eat sometime in this century! Map, now!" Wyn demanded as she opened the door to the fourth year dorms. Harry was sitting with a letter in his lap, his trunk open. Wyn looked at him for only a brief moment before realizing who it was from.

"He all right?" she asked quietly. He nodded.

"He's going to do something stupid, though. I've told him that I'm not worth it, but…"

"Harry, you're the last part of his best friend. You're worth everything to him," Wyn said, just as quietly as before. He nodded slightly, then stuck the letter into his pocket.

"Map, right?" he said quickly, digging through his trunk for a minute before coming up with the Marauders Map. Wyn smiled at him and took it from him gratefully.

"So hungry," she murmured, already halfway out of the dorm.

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_Cedric… damn it, why do I torture myself like this? Why can't I just break up with you? You deserve it, you know. You definitely deserve it. Stupid git. _

Wyn was having an argument with herself. She had long ago abandoned the thought that she might be sane and accepted her fate as the girl who talked to herself. It helped her sort out her emotions.

Looking down at the map, Wyn noticed the _Snivellus _dot moving in her direction. She quickly skirted into another hallway and continued on her mission. It wasn't like she could get in trouble, it was mid-morning on a Saturday, but it didn't mean that she wanted to run into Snape. Wyn turned the corner and headed down the last hallway before the kitchens.

Still absorbed in her thoughts, Wyn grabbed the pear in the portrait and headed into the kitchens. When she went through the door, all was quiet for a moment before one of the house elves recognized her.

"Miss Adworth!" Tippy said happily as he headed over to her. She smiled at Tippy warmly. Last summer, she had finally convinced the Brocklehurst's that they didn't need their last house elf, Tippy. He joined the Hogwarts crew thanks to Dobby, who Wyn didn't see at the moment. It was odd, as he was usually the first one to greet students. He just loved to meet humans.

"Hello, Tippy," Wyn said. "I'm starved. Didn't get much breakfast. Can I have something to eat?"

"Of course! What would Miss Adworth like?" Tippy asked enthusiastically.

"Oh, whatever's around."

"Miss would like bread, cheese, and apples like at Master Brocklehurst's house?" Tippy asked.

"That sounds great, Tippy," Wyn said as she collapsed in the chair in front of the fire. As always, the slow crackling and the jumping flames grabbed her attention, dragging her far away from any trouble, any drama…

She so wanted to believe that she wouldn't have to leave the kitchen. She wanted to believe that those warm flames could swallow her away from all of her problems… she wanted to believe it. But she couldn't.

When Tippy came back with her bread, cheese, and apples, Wyn continued to stare at the fire aimlessly eventually picking at the food to make Tippy happy and to satisfy her angry stomach.

He _did _deserve her to break up with him. But she sat in the kitchen, gnawing angrily on a piece of bread, knowing that she couldn't. He was a git. He shouldn't have done it. But she _loved _him. She did. No matter how much she wished she didn't, she loved Cedric Diggory.

Wyn leaned her head against the couch again. She could not believe that she was about to do this…

In one fluent moment, she lifted herself from the couch, stuffed the last piece of cheese in her mouth, and handed the tray back to Tippy.

"Thanks, Tipps. I'll be sure to come by next week with Mandy, all right?" she said as she grabbed the Map and exited the kitchen.

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I'm cracked. Cracked. I am not about to forgive Cedric! 

_Then turn around and pretend you weren't heading for the Hufflepuff common room. _

_You only show up in Cedric's character._

_How would you know? You don't read this story._

_Story…?_

_Never mind. You'll find out when you go online one day…_

_I'm going to stop talking to you now…_

_Look! Talon!_

"Talon!"

"Wyn."

"You don't sound very happy to see me, Talon," Wyn said, trying to sound irritated. It came off as sounding rather pleased.

"Sorry. Just want to get out of there. Justin broke up with whats-her-face, Fiona and Susan are going at it, Ernie is still depressed that Susan won't look at him as more than a friend, and everyone in there is going _insane. _Plus, Cedric won't leave me alone…"

"Where is he?" Wyn asked quickly. Talon looked at her oddly.

"Aren't you mad at him?"

"Yes."

"You don't do good things when you're angry, Wyn."

"I know, Talon."

"Just checking. I think he went to library."

"Thanks," Wyn said as she started walking slowly away from Talon.

"What are you going to do?" Talon asked her, still standing where he had been before.

"I'm somewhere in between tearing out his heart and stomping on it, hexing him, breaking up with him, and snogging him," Wyn called out over her shoulder as she continued to walk.

"Might want to get that sorted out before you get to the library."

"Or it can just be a combination of all four of those," Wyn said with a laugh.

"Right. But if you end up killing him, I'm not coming to your defense."

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Sorry about the random insert of my voice instead of Wyn's thoughts. I just… boredom and writers block engulf me. Then I just didn't want to fix it.

And what's up with Malfoy, eh? Well, let me tell you, he's so amazing I couldn't help but give him a minor role. I do not, however, believe in making Wyn and Draco friends. Maybe they just won't hate each quite as much. Or maybe Draco as an alterior motive--kinda sounds like him, no?

MY WONDERFUL REVIEWERS:

**Lo22**—I love you in general, my loyal reviewer.

**Mirithespazz**—I could not live without your constant face-to-face criticism of everything that I write, and I mean that quite literally. I'm actually not being sarcastic this time. I swear.

**LeonaKat**—I have a friend named Leona. Just thought I'd throw that out there. And I love you in general too, your reviews make me smile.

Everyone who didn't review last chapter—I love you all too, but I'd love you more if you reviewed.


	21. Shoulda Taken the Bodyguard

This chapterlove. Not because I like Wyn in this chapter, no, she's too over dramatic. And Talon wasn't the coolest in this chapter either. BUT… amazing stuff happens in this chapter that I ADORE. Uh… you'll see.

Oh, and **NOTE: I AM LEAVING TO SEE MY FAMILY ON THRUSDAY, SO THIS WILL PROBABLY BE MY LAST CHAPTER BEFORE THE NEW YEAR.** I am going to try to get one out on Wednesday, but I'm not sure I'll be able to. Thanks, and happy holidays!

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Wyn was prepared for many things as she walked down the library. She was just as prepared to hex his ass as she was to scream at him, just as ready to punch him as she was to snog him, no matter how much she hated to admit it. Nothing seemed out of line, and she could think of little that he didn't deserve.

Ambling slowly, Wyn continued to head down to the library, trying to sort out her emotions enough so she didn't completely confuse, or, more likely, kill, Cedric if she found him. No, not if. She _was _going to find him. She entered the library, smiling at Ms. Prince. Wyn checked all of the places where Cedric usually studied, and walked to the aisles where she could usually find him, but she didn't see him anywhere. She didn't see any of his friends, either, which was unusual. Cedric hardly ever did anything alone.

"Talon was probably wrong," she muttered to herself. She said it, but she didn't believe it, for some reason. Not for anything but a gut feeling.

She was really starting to hate her gut.

Hesitantly, Wyn started towards the very back of the library. The last shelf before the restricted section. It was strange, really, because she had never even looked at that shelf. The only person she knew that had was Hermione, and she knew every square inch of this library by heart. Wyn peered around the bookcase.

Wyn had been prepared to do many things, but not what she did. She stood there for a moment, silently, feeling nothing, saying nothing. Then she came back to her senses and bolted.

Ever since she had been sorted, Wyn had prided herself on being a good Gryffindor, complete with all of the traits she as a Gryffindor was supposed to possess. But in that moment, she was not brave, she was not strong, she did not stand up for herself. She did not punch him, she did not hex him, she did not snog him. She ran as far away as possible as quickly as possible.

Everything that she had built up around her tumbled down onto her shoulders…

**Cal's POV**

"I told you to let me send a bodyguard with you," Cal said when he saw his sister's pale, trembling body stumble into the Gryffindor common room. He felt anger rising within him. Why could Cedric do this to her? He could save her from everything, but he couldn't save her from the heart that Cedric insisted on breaking so regularly. He wished Kip hadn't approved of Cedric and Wyn's relationship. It would be so easy to tell Cedric to stay away from Wyn, if only Kip's words didn't ring in his ears.

Wyn did not even look up at the sound of Cal's voice and continued to make her way toward her dorms. Cal watched her figure, Fred, George, and Lee following his gaze.

"He's hurting more than you, right, Wyn?" Fred asked when he saw how pale she was. George elbowed him. However, Wyn continued to say nothing, not even acknowledging that the boys had spoken.

"Wyn?" Cal asked softly, his concern evident in his voice. Wyn turned and looked at Cal, revealing how sick she really looked. He could tell she was pale when she walked in, but he hadn't realized just how deathly pale she was. It looked as though she had died, come back from the dead, and gotten seasick. Her normally soft, dancing brown eyes were clouded over and desperately, frighteningly empty.

She continued to say nothing, looking at Cal. It gave him the shivers, to see her empty gaze falling upon him. The blank stare she was giving him was so unfamiliar… he could hardly believe it was Wyn.

"Wyn…" he said quietly. Wyn's eyes flooded with tears, at least giving some sort of emotion to her face. However, the brief relief he had from seeing Wyn show emotion flew away when she opened her mouth to utter something he never thought he would hear from Wyn:

"I'm not strong…"

She swayed for a moment, looking even sicker. Cal got up to comfort her, but as soon as she figured out what he was doing, her eyes opened wide and she dashed away, climbing the stairs to the girls' dorm faster than she ever had before.

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"Get her!" Cal screamed angrily at Hermione, hours of frustration blurring his rationality. Hermione sighed and looked at him head-on.

"I can't, Cal. The charm she put around her bed is very complete. I can't find any way to get it open."

"Damn it, Hermione, I don't care!" Cal said desperately, looking up the stairs. Hermione didn't flinch or block his view, she just stood there, stoically, ready to say what needed to be said. He didn't want to, but Cal admired Hermione.

"You're not the only one who's worried about her, Cal," Hermione said softly, letting her eyes dart to the staircase that Cal's had been drawn to only a moment before. "I haven't seen her lock herself up like this since Kip…"

Cal sunk down in his chair, putting his head in his hands.

"We'll just have to wait her out," Hermione said quietly, sitting next to Cal rather awkwardly. He looked up at her, and managed a small smile. She really was an amazing kid. He didn't know why he hadn't seen it before. George and Fred didn't give her enough credit.

"She doesn't deserve to be that miserable," Cal said softly, looking down at the deep red rug beneath his feet.

"No one does," Hermione said simply as she headed back to Wyn.

**Talon's POV**

Don't any of you even care about her anymore?" Talon yelled angrily in the Hufflepuff common room. Hannah and Susan looked down, Fiona let out a huff and headed up the girls dorm, but no one else even acknowledged that Talon had spoken. "Loyal, true friends, you Hufflepuffs are," he scoffed.

"She's got enough people to look out for her. Those Durmstrang boys are on the hunt," Annie said, irritated, flicking her auburn hair over her shoulder.

"But we were her best friends!" Talon said, exasperated. He couldn't for the life of him understand why they were so reluctant to help Wyn.

"She chose others," Justin argued half-heartedly.

"Bullshit. Justin, you supposedly fancied her, and she hasn't talked to anyone in days. She stayed in her dorm with a charm over her bed for almost 24 hours. You know Wyn, and you know that's not at all normal! Yeah, yeah, I'm, aware that she started dating Cedric. I wasn't that happy either, if you didn't notice. And even if you did fancy her, you know how happy she was. Everyone knows how bloody happy she was. Ecstatic. And then all of you start to ignore her!

"She has other friends, but she always has! She always will. That's just our Wyn. Just now you guys seem to think that she's changed," Talon raved.

"She has," Annie said with a shrug.

"No she hasn't! You guys have, and you bloody know it! Ernie and I are the only ones who even acknowledge her any more! Four days, guys. Four days! Ernie is talking to Cal about how to get her to talk to us about what's wrong, which is what I would be doing right now, if you all weren't so stupid!" no one said anything, and they all went back to their previous activities, except for Justin, who was looking at him, barely letting concern etch over his face. Talon sighed loudly.

"Whatever. Nice to know you don't bloody care," Talon walked over to the portrait hole.

"What fucked her up?" Justin asked tentatively.

"No one knows. She won't talk to anyone."

"Well, she's just being stupid," Annie said bitterly.

"What the hell did she ever do to you? She loved you, supported you, helped you, admired you. And you repay her by not giving a shit? No, no. You know what? You guys do whatever the bloody hell you want to. Don't care about Wyn. Just don't bother acting like you know her, because if you're talking like this, you obviously don't know her anymore. God, I don't know _you _anymore. Stop pretending; stop putting on this giant show. I just can't even _believe _you guys! You know Wyn pours everything into friendship. Where was she whenever any of us went through a break up? Where was she when Fiona's Mum left? Where was she when we needed her at all?" Talon was greeted by silence. He could feel his blood boiling, could feel his face turning beet red with rage. "Even if you won't say it, you know she was right here, sitting in our dorms with a box of tissues and words that could make anyone feel better. And now, for the first time in years, she needs help, and you repay her by turning your back!" he paced angrily in front of the door, his hands clasped behind his back. Finally, Talon looked up with venom in his eyes. "Like she really needed an entire bloody group of Mandy's right now" Talon said so softly, so scathingly.

"We aren't Mandy!" Hannah said angrily, leaping up from her spot on the couch.

"Yeah. Doing a bloody good job of proving it," Talon opened the portrait door and stalked out just as Cedric descended the stairs.

**Wyn's Thoughts**

_Maybe if I sit here long enough, I'll forget that I ever loved him._

_Maybe not. But maybe… maybe if I sit here for long enough, I can at least forget—_

_Oh, who am I kidding? I can't forget him. I'll never forget him._

_I really won't forget…_

**Blaise's POV**

Blaise looked at Luna, worry showing on his tired face. His pale blue eyes showed his lack of sleep, and the dark bags underneath them made him look even more pale than usual. But as bad as Blaise looked, Luna was worse. At least, she was in his eyes. She had been getting lots of compliments on her clothes lately. Yeah, her clothes. And her hair.

He couldn't even believe people sometimes. Now she was beautiful. Now she was a Ravenclaw. Not when she was herself, no. Only when she was so wrapped up in depression, in her thoughts, in her worry about her best friend, that she stopped caring. Then, when she wore her blonde hair in a ponytail, threw on a pair of jeans and t-shirt, and didn't bother to put on any jewelry, only then was she beautiful. To them. To those fake people who could dare to try to call themselves Luna's friends.

If they were truly her friends they would know how beautiful she normally looked. They would know that she looked ugly, tired, boring now. But no, they thought that she looked beautiful. She did not look beautiful. She looked wrong.

And it wasn't just in her looks that were changing. The other day she had picked up a copy of _Witch Weekly _and read it. Right side up. Article-to-article, not cover-to-cover. She wasn't acting like Luna…

He missed Luna. He missed the Luna who wore radish earrings and bottle cap necklaces. He missed the Luna who always had a distant, but warm, dreamy grin on her perfect Luna-like face. He missed the way she'd talk about her Mum as if she'd see her again. He missed the way she argued with him, he missed the way she defended her crackpot Dad 'til the end.

He missed Luna. _His _Luna.

He had always wanted her to be normal, but now he just wanted _her_.

And for the life of him, he could not figure out why.

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"Luna?" Blaise asked quietly. She looked up, the familiar clang of her radish earrings gone.

"Yeah?" she said distantly, but not in the familiar dreamy-distant way she usually did.

"I miss you," Blaise choked out. Luna's stare was blank, one lock of her blonde hair falling over her empty blue eyes. For a few days, they had looked sad, but now they didn't look like anything. They didn't look like Luna. Those blue eyes could belong to anyone, but not to Luna. Luna's eyes were always quietly amused, dreamy, intense. They were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen…

"I'm right here," Luna said, her own tire evident in her crackling voice.

"There's someone right there, but it's not my Luna," Blaise said softly. Luna blinked at him.

"Blaise…"

"Luna, please come back."

"Why, if I don't have Wyn?" Luna asked, showing emotion for the first time that day. Blaise looked at her, aching to see her dreamy smile, to hear her happy laugh, her clanging bottle caps. He wanted to be blinded by the light bouncing off of one particular muggle bottle cap. But instead of getting of any of that, he got an empty girl with a permanent tired frown, an unheard laugh, and a plain, pale neck.

"She's not the only one that cares about you, Luna," Blaise pleaded. Again, Luna blinked at him.

"You don't even like me, Blaise. People think I don't notice that nobody likes me, but I do. I always have. I know that you don't like me, Blaise. You hang out with me because for some reason Wyn likes me."

Blaise shut his eyes tightly and then looked down at the table. He saw Luna's hand resting, unused, by her fork. He reached out and grabbed it, feeling her smooth skin against his hands, rough from so much time playing Quidditch. He could feel Luna withdraw slightly, but let him continue to hold her hand.

"I have two friends in the world, Luna," Blaise said, "I only know two people that I would ever turn to for advice on my rainiest days. One of them is upstairs in her room, not talking to anyone. The other one is with her in spirit, and I want her back."

Blaise saw Luna's eyes widen a bit, and she drew back her hand. "I… I—Wyn is…" she didn't finish her sentence, but dashed out of the Great Hall. Blaise put his head in his hands and closed his eyes. He could almost imagine the fierce roar of her Gryffindor hat, could almost hear the tinkling of bottle caps.

But he lost it.

**Cal's POV**

"Cal, do you think maybe I could—" Cedric said from behind Cal. Cal shot up and turned around to face Diggory, frustration and tire making him slightly irrational and overly angry. All day, he had been looking for someone to vent at, someone to scream and wail at. He was afraid of doing it to Wyn's friends for fear they wouldn't help him, and the last time he vented to the twins all three of them (plus a very irritated Lee) had ended up in the Hospital Wing. Diggory seemed like a perfect target. Plus, he was already angry with him. Cal opened his mouth and just let the words fall out.

"I've told you before, Diggory, you are not allowed to step foot anywhere in the remote _area_ of Wyn. I don't know what you did to her, and I don't bloody care. There's only one person in the world that can make her act like this, and it's you. I don't want to see your bloody face anywhere _close _to where we're even _talking _about helping her. I don't want to you see anything that even remotely reminds me of you, do you hear me? For the last bloody time, Diggory, get the hell out of here!" Cal yelled angrily. Cedric looked at him, biting his lower lip, running his hand through his disgustingly perfect light brown hair. Cal could feel his lip curling in anger, could feel his hand forming a fist, could hear the blood rushing quicker, quicker, through his veins.

"Cal, I honestly didn't do anything! I hadn't seen her since Halloween," he pleaded, his big brown eyes looking so tired, so confused.

"I don't believe you."

"Cal—"

"Kip was wrong. He was never wrong—never. But he was wrong about you. You don't deserve her! She doesn't deserve this! You know, I never approved of this. I never thought you and Wyn made a good pair, but I kept quiet. I bit my lip and shut up because Kip approved. Because Kip wanted it. In his memory, I have let you near my sister, I have let you break her heart, I have mended it, and I have handed it back to you. But not again. Not again, Diggory. I don't know what you did, but you've screwed with Wyn for the last time!

"Not even Kip's approval, not even his memory, is going to help you this time, Cedric. Get out of here," Cal said dangerously, trying to quell the fire that was burning inside of his chest. More than anything, he just wanted to deck the sucker. Cedric looked over Cal's shoulder at the rest of the people who were helping him with Wyn, but they all looked down quickly.

Cal watched with pleasure as Cedric's head went down and he walked back over to the Hufflepuff table. Just when he was about to turn away, he saw what would change everything. He saw just one little movement, and he knew why Wyn was so heartbroken.

Before he let his anger get the best of him, he raced out of the Great Hall to get his broom. He could make Wyn better again.

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"Open the bloody window, Wyn, or I'll open it myself," Cal growled from outside her window. He heard nothing from inside. He sighed and put his lips as close to the window as possible. Then, in a low voice that only Wyn would be able to hear, he said something that he was almost positive would make her open the window. His voice was cracking with a huge array of emotions. He could feel Wyn's discomfort, her awe.

And then the window opened.

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In the next chapter… we find out what Cedric did.

I AM EXTREMELY HAPPY BECAUSE I LOVE BLAISE. I AM ALSO EXTREMELY HAPPY BECAUSE I GOT THIS CHAPTER WRITTEN.

Big thanks to my reviewers, same as last chapter: lo22, LeonaKat, and Mirithespazz. Danke.

Oh, and if anyone could put these events in order for me: 1st event, Christmas, Yule Ball. Double thanks!

Another note: Cal+HermioneNO. Just thought I'd throw that in there in case anyone looked at that part and went 'is she trying to ship Hermione and Cal...?' I'm not. It just kind of came out that way.


	22. I Suppose You Want Your Lovely Luna?

I leave in less than ten hours. You _best _love me for updating. 

Wyn is overdramatic, but she also shows a lot of vulnerability about her position with Cedric, which I really haven't done much yet, so I'm rather satisfied with this chapter. Cal is scary. I MEAN IT. **DO NOT DOUBT THIS OR YOU WILL BE EVEN MORE SCARED.** 'Nuff said. BLAISE IS ADORABLE! Also 'nuff said. But, most importantly, Yakov is _the _most amazing thing ever, and if I weren't married to Neville already, I would most definitely marry him.

This is long, I'm sorry.

**This chapter is dedicated to LeonaKat for being amazing. Much love, chica. The bludger will come, as will a chapter of Blaise/Luna fluff. But I'm afraid I can't promise anything on Talon/Wyn. You crazy kid. Love you anyways!**

* * *

"I feel so stupid, Cal," Wyn said. Despairingly, she felt a wide array of emotions. She was heartbroken, angry, amazed, tired, bewildered, sad, empty. But mostly, she felt stupid. She felt bloody stupid. Cal only smiled at his sister's revelation and pulled her into another hug.

"We missed you, Wyn," he said, trying to take in all of her sadness, all of her weakness. He wanted to absorb everything negative and throw it all out of the window. He wanted to see her smile again, wanted to hear her laugh. He wanted her to be as young and innocent as she had always seemed.

He wanted his sister.

But as Wyn looked at him, watched him carefully, knowing what he wanted, she knew he could never get it. No, these months had given her far too much for her to ever be _innocent_. More than Cal could understand—more than anyone, perhaps, could understand—she wanted to be innocent. She wished he had never told her he loved her, she wished she had never admitted that she loved him. Desperately, so desperately, she wanted to take back everything—everything—that she had said to Cedric this year. She wanted to go back to the summer, when Cedric was Kip's best friend, and nothing more. To the summer, when she didn't know what real love felt like, what real _pain _felt like.

And perhaps even more than that, she wanted summer back because of the faint pain she felt even now. Even when she was so sure she couldn't love him anymore. When she so wanted to _believe _that she couldn't love him anymore, there was that pain. That stupid, dull pain, shooting through her body over and over again, reminding her that she still loved him, she still loved him, she still loved him.

She still bloody loved him.

As Wyn sat, giving Cal a half-hearted smile, she wished, so fervently, that she had never fallen for Cedric Diggory. She wished, so intensely, that she didn't know the horrible, blunt pain that she knew. She wished that it wasn't still there, reminding her not only that she still loved him, even after all of this, but also that she knew something was going to go wrong. She could feel his pain—yes, his bloody pain—and she could do nothing to stop it.

Nothing at all.

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"Hey," Wyn said, her voice sounding strangled and strange against her ears. Blaise was the first to look up, sitting close to the door to her dorm.

"WYN-FACE!" Blaise screeched. All of a sudden, the room was flurried with excitement, culminating with Luna throwing herself on Wyn, knocking her over, and resulting in a huge pig-pile.

"I love you guys," Wyn said happily as Talon helped her up. He smiled brightly at her, as Luna once again threw herself at her best friend. Wyn hugged her, very aware of her friend's lack of jewelry and odd assortment of clothing. She looked positively normal.

"Luna," Wyn said strictly, pulling out of the embrace, "Go get dressed. You look like Cho turned you into a minion." Luna opened her mouth to protest, but then looked down at what she was wearing. She gave an apologetic grin and dashed out of the Gryffindor common room, smiling like crazy. Wyn sighed and fell down into the couch, everyone else in the room following suit.

"We're gonna go get some butterbeer, Wynnie," Cal called as Fred, George, and Lee crawled out of the portrait, "We'll be back soon, though I highly doubt you'll miss us."

Someone started some music, and Wyn was grateful. It stopped some of the questions. Though no one had asked her why she had done it yet, she was sure it was coming. Closing her eyes, she let herself disappear into the melody. Until Blaise interrupted her.

"Thanks," he said as he collapsed on top of her. She grunted at the added weight of her tall and muscular guy friend.

"Breathing is fun," she choked. Blaise laughed, stood up, picked her up, sat down in her spot, and threw her on top of him.

"Better?" he asked as she burrowed her head into his shirt.

"Yeah," she said softly. They lapsed into a comfortable silence, one that was unusual between the two. Both of them were incredibly talkative, and if it wasn't one blabbering on and on about something useless, it was the other. Wyn loved the way he was absently stroking her hair, apparently thinking about something that was completely consuming him. She, likewise, had been thinking about something completely consuming, until he had interrupted her. She didn't mind, though. Not like she usually did. On the contrary, today she was happy he had. The things she found herself thinking about were not the most pleasant these days…

"What're you thinking about?" Wyn asked, looking up at Blaise's knitted forehead, locks of his black hair falling over his pale blue eyes. He looked up at her, seeming rather distracted. When he saw her questioning glance, he immediately became more animated. Then, he seemed to remember what question he was answering, and looked more sober.

"I missed Luna," he said, avoiding Wyn's gaze. She smiled brightly.

"Falling for my best friend, are you?" she asked playfully, elbowing him in the ribs. He frowned at her and rubbed his stomach, throwing a glare at her for good measure. She only smiled at him.

"I'm not falling for Luna. She's one of my only friends, and she wasn't acting right," he said, continuing to ignore her gaze.

"Yeah. I believe you, Blaise."

"I'm serious!"

"And that makes it all the more amusing," Wyn laughed, rolling off of Blaise's lap. "Where're Kristof and the lot? I want to talk to Yakov…" she said, holding out her hand for Blaise to take. He did so, and she pulled him off of the couch happily. "I suppose you want to get your lovely Luna?"

"No, you want to get _your _lovely Luna," he said with a disgruntled snort.

"I've told you that I love you lately, haven't I?" she asked sweetly. Despite himself, he smiled at her.

"No."

"Well, then, Blaise. I suppose it's time. I love you," she said. Blaise slung his arm around her shoulder.

"And I love you, too, Wyn," he said. Wyn let herself melt into his arms and the comfort he offered her. For a moment, and only a long, lonely moment, she could pretend as though nothing were wrong. She was just walking down the hall with Blaise, one of her best friends, enjoying his company in a way he hadn't in a long way. She was so close to being able to pretend that absolutely nothing was wrong…

But then she'd feel the light throbbing in her forehead, and she was reminded that something was indeed wrong, something that she couldn't fix; no mater how she tried.

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"Guess who," Wyn giggled happily as she came up behind Yakov, putting her hands over his eyes. He took her hands off of his eyes and turned around to face her, his awe evident.

"Wyn!" he exclaimed, standing up and hugging her excitedly. She giggled again, hugging him back happily. "We have missed you!" he said eagerly, "Hogwarts is not nearly as fun without you."

"These two have been losers, then, I take it?" she asked, motioning at Blaise and Luna.

"No, they were just missing their best friend," Yakov said pleasantly, motioning for the rest of the guys to come and say hi to her. She smiled at all of them, staying very close to Yakov. It had surprised her at first, how attached she had gotten to Yakov. He fit perfectly into her routine, into her very life. And though she thought she knew him well, he never ceased to amaze her with how well he knew her, without knowing her hardly at all. The only relationship she had that could compare with the one she had developed with Yakov was her friendship with Talon—something that both of them had worked hard at. But this, this took so little time and so little effort; it was as if they were meant to be the best of friends. It was if they were meant to be there to comfort each other, to tell each other that there was someone who understood, even though they had no right to.

It did startle her, how fast she felt as though they were the best of friends. But after the initial shock wore off, it didn't actually surprise her. They were complete opposites, and opposites do attract, supposedly. He was quiet, a guy who only had a group of friends because of his brother. She was loud, a girl that brought new meaning to the word 'outgoing.' He masked his emotions, kept everything bottled inside, and vented once in a blue moon. His 'up' and 'down' moods were very similar, and it took someone who knew him well to know the difference between the two emotions. Wyn, no matter how much she tried not to, wore her feelings on her sleeves. When she was up, she was way up, but when she was down, she was _way _down.

Wyn loved to make friends, she was incredibly friendly and bubbly, and had been for as long as anyone could remember. She absolutely adored people. Yakov really couldn't care less about making friends. He liked to inhabit his own world, and often came off as harsh. It was partially because of his situation with his father—a man that he could hardly stand to think of. If anyone ever asked him, Yakov would deny and deny that his disposition was to protect himself from the hurt he felt at home, but no one who knew him felt the need to ask; they already knew. Wyn had always had an uncanny ability to just _know _things about people. When they didn't want to tell her, she could just figure it out by looking at them. Yakov couldn't read people at all, mostly due to the fact that he spent most of his time penning in his own emotions. There were only a few people in the world that he could read: his brother, Aleks, and by some miracle, Wyn.

But their biggest difference was probably their views on people. Wyn always wanted to believe that people were ultimately good, the reason why she was able to accept that her mother was in contact with Sirius Black when he was widely considered a cold-blooded, crazy axe-murderer. For some reason, she could not believe that people were bad, no matter how much evidence was stacked up against them. For this very reason, Wyn loved hard, loved sweetly, and loved forever. No matter what people did to her, no matter how much she wished that she didn't love them, she did. Deep in her heart, Wyn had always considered this a wonderful trait, but for once, she wasn't sure, a trait that she had never possessed before. She had never, not once, been unsure of herself. But now, when she knew—_knew_—that Cedric was being a bastard; she could not stop loving him. She could not stop wishing, over and over again, that their love would be enough to overcome this obstacle. In reality, this was much more than an obstacle, and she knew it. But she denied it because once she had loved someone she could not stop. Could not stop…

She _would _not stop.

Yakov found it very hard to believe that there was good in people at all. The only good he knew for years was the safety of Kristof's arms. But the bad? He had always been surrounded by the bad. By the constant screams of his father, by the black-magic ridden objects strewn all over his house, by the berating of so many relatives he could not count, by the distant terror-filled scream he heard over and over again in his head; begging, begging, begging his father to take mercy on his helpless baby body. And all of the times the bad had come so close to engulfing him, to swallowing him, to watching him suffer over and over again by the knowledge that not even love could save the most innocent, every single time there was a speck of good; but it was never enough to let him believe in people. Never enough to let his guard down. Never enough to tell him that there was goodness, that there was love, that there was something besides the scream in his head, telling him again and again that if a mother's love couldn't save him, nothing could.

He tried—he tried—to believe in people. He tried to believe that there was good in the world he had always known to be ridden with such evil. He wanted to believe it, but he never could. No matter how hard he tried, the knowledge would slip through his fingers, just like the promise of the only love anyone was guaranteed, even if only for a while: the love of a mother. Just like Kristof's blood running through his fingers, letting him know for the hundredth time that he was not strong, that he could not save him, not now, not ever.

Because there was no true good in the world, because there was no true love.

There was only the bad and the pain, rushing through his helpless body so many times he could hardly count them; laughing, laughing, laughing at all of his worthless attempts to believe in the world that never believed in him. And somewhere over his fifteen years, he had given into the laughing and believed: he believed with all of his heart that good in the world was like light in the night; it was impossible and it was fleeting, taken over, taken down, and then it was gone.

******Cal's POV**

He told Wyn he was going to get more butterbeer. And he was. He was going to get more butterbeer, after he pummeled Cedric bloody Diggory.

George, Fred, and Lee completely agreed with him on this. Cedric "didn't know" what he had done wrong. Yeah, well, they did. And they couldn't believe it. He had never known pain, not yet. They were going to give him bloody pain.

Cal hardly even understood the hatred that was coursing through his veins right now. He had never been a big fan of Cedric's, that much was true. He was too bloody perfect. Already, Cal lived with a perfect sister and in the memory of a perfect brother. But he loved them so much that he hardly even cared that they constantly overshadowed him. But Diggory? No. Diggory could not overshadow him. He would not allow it. And even beyond that, he would not allow Diggory to make a bloody mess out of his sister.

_No one_ screwed with Wyn. Kip and Cal had made that their goal in life since she was three years old. Just because Kip was gone now did not mean that Cal got to abandon his duty, and it certainly did not mean that his best friend was an exception to that rule. Not at all, actually.

"Cal, slow down. You're scary when you're pissed," Lee said behind him, his uneasiness evident in his usually even, smooth voice. Cal slowed down slightly, but other than that, he did not bother to acknowledge that Lee had spoken.

"Geez, Cal. She's a great girl, and we'd do the same to anybody that messed with Gins, but honestly," Fred said in his usual loud-mouthed manner. Cal continued to ignore them, noting George's quiet, meaning that he completely agreed with Cal on this one. Comforted, he turned the corner sharply and headed into the Great Hall. Scanning the hall with trained eyes, he picked out some of Cedric's friends sitting lazily at the Huffelpuff table.

"Where's Diggory?" he demanded as he walked over to the table. They all looked up at him, looks that ranged from disgust to complete fear sweeping over their ashen faces. One stood up bravely and looked at him square in the eye.

"Who wants to know?" he challenged. Cal swallowed back all urges to punch him as hard as possible and smiled dangerously at him.

"The brother of the kid who's heart he's broken one too many times," he said, the danger in his smile moving into his voice. The kid looked at him, his bravery wavering.

"Library," he muttered, sitting down in defeat. Cal smirked at him, proud of himself, and turned tail and headed to the library as fast as possible.

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"Diggory," he said quietly, venom in his voice. Cedric seemed reluctant to turn around, but he did.

"I want to know what you did," George said evenly, stepping up alongside Cal. Cedric looked bewildered.

"Look, I've told you guys I don't know," Cedric said. Cal grimaced.

"Oh, but you do, Diggory," he said. "And I can tell you where it happened."

"What? Where?" Cedric asked, following Cal as he beckoned to him. He led him to an abandoned portion of the library.

"It had to do with everybody's favorite Ravenclaw slut and this aisle in the library," he said disgustedly, pushing Cedric back into the aisle. He looked at Cedric. His eyes were wide with surprise and an amount of sorrow that he hadn't expected.

"Oh," he said so softly Cal could swear he hadn't actually spoken. Cal continued to glare at him.

" Let's get out of this bloody library. I'm not adding to my detentions because of you," he snarled. Cedric, seeming very taken-aback, obliged immediately, looking over his shoulder nervously as George and Fred walked on either side of him. Cedric was by no means small, but when placed in between Fred and George, who were shorter than him by several inches and about ten times more muscular, he looked strangely dwarfed. Lee and Cal walked behind them, both wishing desperately Fred and George hadn't given Potter the bloody Marauders Map.

"Look, Diggory," Fred said as they walked out of the castle, "Cal is overprotective, and we are too. Wyn is practically our little sister, and you really don't want to screw with us. We've managed to sit quietly throughout the fiasco that has been these last few months, but we aren't doing it anymore," he said fiercely, puffing up his chest and standing on his tiptoes so he looked much bigger than Cedric.

"I don't care what you're excuse is, Diggory, I really don't," Cal said, pushing Fred out of the way lightly to get directly in Cedric's face, "All I know is that after you deliberately disobeyed Wyn about something as major as the Triwizard Tournament, you should have spent every waking moment on how to make it up to her. Every waking thought, action, and breath should have been spent on somehow making up for being such a bastard. Under no circumstances should you have turned and snogged with the only girl in the world that she really despises. I am bloody glad she caught you, Diggory. Her heart is completely shattered right now, but I shudder to think about if she had caught you later.

"Do us all a favor, Diggory, and stay the hell away from Wyn. I'm not cutting you slack because you were Kip's best friend anymore. You've crossed the line, and I'm not ever going to give you another opportunity to do it again. If I see you anywhere near my sister without her instigating it, you will be hurting very, _very _badly," he sneered. Cedric looked at him, not arguing at all. He started to turn around when Cal grabbed him, turned him back around, and let out all of his anger, frustration, and sorrow out in one punch.

Cedric fell back onto the ground, and Cal kicked him several times. He didn't look like he was putting anything into them, but Cedric's loud grunts said otherwise. He looked around for a moment and then walked away, motioning Lee, Fred, and George to do the same. They did so hesitantly; looking behind at Cedric's motionless body, all wondering just how strong Calder Ripley Adworth was when his family was concerned.

It would not be the last time they would worry about his strength when those he loved were involved…

******Wyn's POV**

"Who is that?" Yakov asked as they left the castle. Wyn lifted her head from his chest, looking to where Yakov was pointing.

"Bloody hell," Blaise said softly, stopping dead in his tracks. Everyone else stopped with him, looking to see what he saw. It took Wyn a moment, but then she realized what Blaise was so stunned about. That was definitely the motionless body of Cedric Diggory on the ground.

'Bloody hell' was bloody right.

She didn't mean to, but she started running almost immediately, trying to make her way to Cedric. It did not surprise her that she could feel the strange looks the others were giving her. None of them knew what had happened, but they all knew that it wasn't good. They also knew that she probably _shouldn't _care enough about him to be running to his side at the moment, but Wyn did her best to ignore them. She reached Cedric's side and turned him over so that he was facing up, his eyes barely cracked open.

When he registered that it was Wyn who was standing over him, her eyes looking to be very concerned and… loving, he could feel his eyes burst open and his mouth drop, though he groaned in pain at the movement. Of course, Cal had to punch him in the bloody face…

"Cedric," Wyn said softly, looking over him carefully. His face was a mess, his lip bleeding, his cheek swollen. Noticing the way he was holding onto his stomach, Wyn turned her attention down to his torso, lifting up his shirt gently to see bruising all over. She doubted that he had made it through the… well, however he had gotten hurt, without breaking several ribs.

"Wyn," Yakov said above her. She turned to look at him, her concern for Cedric showing all over her tired, drawn face. He held out his hand for her to take, and she did so hesitantly.

"Averiy," she called. He came up, his blonde hair falling over his forehead. "Can you pick Cedric up? We'd best take him to the Hospital Wing," she said softly, looking down at Cedric whose eyes were wide with admiration. He shouldn't have been so surprised. He supposedly knew her better than anyone else, so he should have known that she never stopped loving people. Not even him—especially not him. He continued to look at her and Averiy picked him up somewhat grudgingly. She looked away from him so she couldn't see what he was mouthing to her.

'I love you, Wyn.'

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"Hello, Pom," Wyn said as she followed Averiy, carrying Cedric. Blaise, Luna, and the Durmstrang boys in turn followed her**. ****(A/N: Who I have absolutely no intention of naming one by one unless I have to. Which was at the beginning, so don't expect it often. Or… ever.)**

"Wyn! What's—" Madame Pomfrey started, but stopped when she saw Cedric in Averiy's arms. "Good God, Wyn, what happened?" she asked. Wyn looked down.

"I don't know for sure," Wyn said softly. And it was true—she didn't know… for sure. But she was decently positive who had done it, and she fumingly angry. That little _prick! _She was going to bloody kill him! Who had given him permission to beat the crap out of Cedric? Who had even said that Wyn somehow wanted it?

"Okay, Mr. Balakirev, please put Cedric on one of the empty beds and then all of you, shoo! You can come back in an hour; I'll want some time to figure this out. Thank you and go," Madame Pomfrey said forcefully as she practically pushed the group out of the door. She gave a meaningful glance at Wyn before they left, and Wyn could feel the burning in her cheeks. She had suspected that she hadn't fooled anyone with that act…

******Cedric's POV**

Cedric could hardly believe it when Cal had led him to the library. His breath had caught in his throat when he saw which aisle they were at. When Cal said 'everyone's favorite Ravenclaw slut,' Cedric was sure he would never see the light of day again. He certainly wouldn't want to.

So that was why Wyn hadn't come out of her room. Because of him. Because of him and his stupidity, his inexistent self control, his strange attraction to Cho Chang.

Cedric sighed and sank further down into his bed in the Hospital Wing. Perhaps he had been even more surprised when Wyn hadn't kicked him, or screamed at him, or at least done _something _when she had seen him. Instead, she had looked at him with a mixture of sadness and… love.

How could she still love him after he had done that? How could she even think that he was worthy of her after he had done that? Cal was right. He should have spent every waking moment begging Wyn for forgiveness, should have spent his life on his knees in front of her, pleading, over and over again, to take him back. He should have done all those things, but instead he had turned to Cho bloody Chang for some sort of comfort. And as he laid there in the Hospital Wing, he could not for the life of him figure out why. It was almost as if he wanted the relationship to fail. But it was just the opposite, was the thing. Cedric wanted this relationship to work so badly that it hurt. He would spend hours—he could spend days—just thinking about how wonderful Wyn was, how lucky he was, how much he would hate to screw up. But then he would go do something stupid, something that threatened to drive Wyn to her breaking point.

How had she not already reached her breaking point? Seeing him snogging with Cho Chang? He hated himself for doing that.

Cedric had no idea how—really, no idea how, none at all—but he was going to make it up to Wyn, if it was the last thing he did.

******Wyn's POV**

"Cal!" Wyn cried angrily as she stormed into the Gryffindor common room. "Cal! Get your arse down here right now!" Wyn heard no signs of movement from her brother's dorm, so she opened her mouth the yell again, her head aching from all of the decision she was making. In the last five minutes she had gone from wanting to kill Cal, to wanting to thank him profusely, to wanting to cry on his shoulder, all the way back to wanting to kill him again. She was obviously already confused enough about Cedric, why did he have to go and do something that would make her decide once and for all if she was ready to forgive him?

And why did it have to be so soon after she decided she just wanted a break?

God, all she wanted to do was take a few weeks, maybe a few months, off. Talk things out with Luna, maybe try to patch up relations back at the Hufflepuff house. Really, all she wanted to do was spend some time away from the Cedric drama. And then, just when she had been ready to do just that, Cal, during one of his genius moments, decided to try to 'help' by making things a million times worse; by forcing her to make a decision before she was damned well ready to make a decision.

Wyn stood at the bottom of the stairs, letting her thoughts engulf, letting her senses go down, down, down. Soon all she was doing was listening to the pounding of her fragile heart against her chest, hearing it echoing throughout her body, just wishing that everything came as easy as the constant pounding of her heart; just wishing, not for the first time, that everything was easier, that everything was simpler, that everything was right. Soon she forgot all about killing Cal—forgot about doing anything at all to Cal—and let her mind be consumed with nothing but breathing in and out and hearing her heart pound louder, louder, louder, with each passing second.

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I was going to cut this off and make it shorter, but it needed to be long. I'm sorry. I really wanted to end it with Wyn doing this; I actually am quite annoyed by her, but I love how I wrote this… and I'm sorry that sounded really bad… Ah well. I liked it.

Happy holidays, and big thanks again to LeonaKat for being AMAZING! I love you!

Also big thanks to lo22 and iPodDancin for reviewing!

Happy holidays! I'll see you all in the new year!


	23. Malfoy's Game

For some unexplainable reason, I was in a really angsty mood when I wrote this. Deal with it.

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"It was your brother, wasn't it?" Madame Pomfrey asked when Wyn came back an hour and a half later. Wyn said nothing but looked down sheepishly, examining the sheet on the bed closest to her tired eyes. Madame Pomfrey looked at her expectantly, not opening her mouth to prod her or putting a hand on Wyn's shoulder as she usually did. Instead, she just moved out of Wyn's way so she could talk to Cedric. If Wyn had looked up into Madame Pomfrey's face as she did this, she would have seen the 'we'll talk about this later' look that was clearly plastered all over her face that was tired, too. As tired as Wyn had ever seen it before, and she had seen Pom looking worn down.

Wyn barely lifted her head up as she walked over to Cedric. She didn't want to see his bright, questioning, unbelievably amazing hazel eyes dart to hers, saying all of the things that she wanted him to say, expressing everything in the world in his light, endless orbs… She didn't want to see what had become, perhaps, her biggest weakness in the world since she had admitted that she loved him: his eyes.

Quietly, without making much sound at all, Wyn sat on the edge of Cedric's bed, her fingers tapping lightly on his bedside table which was almost completely empty, save for one piece of tear-stained piece of parchment on which was scrawled _'Fine. Go back to her.'_ Wyn didn't need to look any farther to know it was from—from her. Before she could think about the repercussions her actions would carry, the piece of parchment was in her hands, crumpled mercilessly, completely. As if it was the cause of all of her problems, Wyn threw it angrily to the ground and kicked it, around and around, over and over. Frustration she couldn't express, words she couldn't say, feelings that she couldn't—just couldn't—sort out came out in her angry, desperate kicks, grunts leaving her mouth as she found herself spilling absolutely everything into killing the damned piece of parchment.

With tears that she hadn't known were there pouring down over her cheeks, hot and flushed with anger, Wyn took one last desperate kick at the parchment—and missed. She didn't know how. She didn't even know it was possible to miss a target like that. But somehow or another, she had missed. And for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, Wyn's mind completely left her.

"Just bloody screw it."

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She was wandering aimlessly around the most deserted hallways nearly two hours later when she realized that Cedric had witnessed that entire freak out. Wyn mentally kicked herself, but made no attempts to change direction and head back to the Hospital Wing to explain herself. Instead, she continued to wander around the hallways, basking in the newness of the castle even after four years of living within it's old, dusty confines. She watched in awe as new paintings, ones that she had never seen or heard of before, spread gossip, spread the word that she was in the corridor. She was awe-stricken by the tapestries, color bleached with age. She listened to the soft echo of her shoes against the stone floor, marveled at the smoothness of the grey walls.

Everything was new again.

After all these centuries this castle had stood here, after all these years of students walking down the corridors, everything was still new. Everything still felt different, exciting, unexplainably and perplexingly new.

Maybe it was because she was horribly clouded by all of her swirling emotions, maybe it was because she needed something—anything—good to come out of today, but whatever the reason, the newness of this corridor comforted her like nothing else could in that moment. The newness, the loneliness, the emptiness made her happier than any person could have. And as Wyn was about to turn around and trek back to the Gryffindor common room, she paused. She looked over the newness of the corridor again and sat down, the cold stone pressing against her back, through her robe. If anyone had seen her, they would have seen the visible shudder shoot through her body and the inexplicable look of happiness on her face. If anyone had seen her, they would have known, with such certainty, that she felt at home in this lonely, abandoned hallway. But there was no one to see her, so Wyn soaked up that knowledge and kept it all to herself.

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It must have been hours later when she woke up in the corridor, so cold she was shivering even in her deep sleep, her hands frigid, her toes feeling as though they were frozen. Hours ago she should have been back. Now they were probably worrying. Fretting, running around, looking for her as they always did when she simply disappeared. Usually it compelled her to go back, but today, as she sat against the cold stone of the corridor wall, it did nothing to make her want to go back. It made her want to hide under the rug, away from anyone who cared.

Wyn loved her friends. She always had. They had always helped her through everything, kept her up, held her hand, patted her back—no matter how awkwardly. And she had always appreciated them endlessly for that. But today—today—when she sat against the wall, the only thing she could think of was how no one, absolutely no one, could understand enough to comfort her right now. None of them would have any trouble hating Cedric, breaking up with him, ripping out the remains of his heart and stomping on them, mercilessly, continuously, until he begged, pleaded, for them to stop. Some of them wanted to do it for her, one had tried. But she, no. She could not do that to Cedric. She loved him too damn much, and she didn't even know why. That was what bugged her the most about it. She _wanted _to hate him, but she just didn't. Every time she had seen him since the Cho incident, she had wanted to run away as quickly as possible, wanted to scream at him, yell at him, kick him, ask him what in the bloody hell he was thinking. But whenever she began to try, she felt as though her stomach was doing loop-de-loops in her gut, kicking everything it could possibly reach, trying to make her retch all over him. Quite literally, the thought of hurting Cedric made her sick.

Because… because why? Why did she have to love this hard, this unconditionally? Why couldn't she just get angry with him, screw him over, and walk away?

Wyn put her head in between her knees and felt her harsh, sharp breaths dart out of her mouth. Why, why, why, why, did she have to love Cedric so damned _much_?

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"Adworth," came Malfoy's familiar voice from behind her. Wyn didn't turn her head, didn't question why he was there. She, in fact, did absolutely nothing. For once that entire day, she kept her resolve and thought about the consequences of her actions. So she did not hex Malfoy into oblivion for talking to her, she did not scream and rant about the first thing that came into her head—which would probably be Cedric—she did not burst out into a stream of tears that would make Malfoy feel awkward at best. Instead, she looked ahead and ignored the welling feeling behind her eyes.

"Adworth," Malfoy repeated. Wyn did not turn around, but she could hear his feet padding behind her. "You know," he said slowly, "this is no fun if you don't respond." Wyn bit her tongue. "Really, Adworth, must you be this determined to be unprovoked?"

_Yes_, she thought.

"I thought you'd be all ready to lash out at the first person who tried to talk to you after Diggory went after the slut," Malfoy said, letting the words slither out of his mouth and crawl all over Wyn, making her feel dirty, unwanted, and heartbroken. Still, she tried to keep her resolve. Swallowing deeply, Wyn leaned her head hard against the stone wall and pushed herself up from the ground.

"Yeah, that's it, Adworth. Time to play a game," Malfoy said maliciously. She wasn't sure what it was about that, but Wyn immediately whipped around, fire in her eyes.

"A game, Malfoy?" she hissed.

"A game that isn't fun if you don't play it with me," he said, as if it were the most obvious response in the world. Wyn glared at him, her eyes shooting daggers. Usually she would play his game. Usually she would say something witty and get into a light hexing session with him. But today, she was not in the mood. She was brooding, she was tired, she was confused, she was completely at wits end with her emotions. She wanted everything to stop, everything to just slow down and let her figure things out.

There were many things that she wanted at that moment; Cedric's hand in hers, reassuring words from her mother, a talk with Neville, a steam-blowing game of Quidditch with Blaise, Kip working it out with her like he always used to… But one of the things that she wanted was not, in any way, Malfoy. She did not, especially not now, want to play one of Malfoy's games.

"This is not a bloody game, Malfoy, and I've got other things to worry about besides you and your stupid obsession with feeding off of any and all of my weaknesses. You know what, Malfoy? I've had a bad day. A bad week. A bad bloody year. And it's cumulating with me having to decide something that I've been putting off forever; can I just disregard what he's done? Or can I just disregard how he makes me feel? One or the other has to give, and I'm not ready to let that happen. And that's probably not even the worst part of it—no. The worst part is that the first person I've talked to about this is you. My God," Wyn said, stopping in her tracks and letting herself collide with the wall again. What had she just told him? "I need to talk to Luna," Wyn said, walking away from Malfoy swiftly. Her feet pounded against the floor loudly. At first, it was only the sound of her feet echoing around the room, but the soft padding of Malfoy's shoes behind her soon joined them. She wished he would just leave her alone, she wished he would just give in and let her leave, for once. She wished that his games didn't mean so much to him.

Damn it, she wished she hadn't just told him that!

"I was the first one?" he asked rather sheepishly from behind her. She didn't answer; she just kept walking, listening to the padding of both of their feet, almost in synchronization.

"Please, answer me, Adworth," he said, sounding almost sincere. Wyn stopped abruptly, but did not turn around. At first, she did not intend on telling him anything, but as she stood there, her breath caught in her chest, words just started firing out of her mouth.

"Yes, and I have no bloody idea why. Why should you be the first one I tell? You have never been anything to me, nothing but a nuisance, nothing but someone to 'play games' with and hate. You are my bantering partner, one of the only people I feel like I hate. So why in the world would I tell you first? Why would I tell you something personal like that? That seems more like best friend territory to me. So, if you'll excuse me, I have to bring up this matter with Luna, and sort things out for real. So, unless you have some miracle cure for my problems, please go away," she said, beginning to walk again.

Her brown eyes were brimming with tears again. It really was quite tiring, falling to pieces every few moments. And the fact that she had just divulged something that _personal _to Malfoy of all people was coming close to making her physically ill. Why couldn't she just keep her mouth shut? Why couldn't she just reign her emotions in today? Was it impossible for her to think about consequences?

Yes, she answered herself. She was too caught up in whether or not she could forgive Cedric. Too caught up in where her loyalties should lie. Should she defend what Cal had done, or should she sit by Cedric's bed and tell him that she forgave him? Neither seemed like a good idea. Wyn glared at Malfoy as best she could. Malfoy looked like he was fighting back some sort of comment, and Wyn sighed.

"Say whatever snarky comment you want to. Just leave me alone, please. I actually know how to get back this time," she said softly. Malfoy looked down at his hands.

"You have people to talk to all around you… why wouldn't you talk to them?"

"That wasn't snarky, and I told you, I have no idea why. Even if I did, it's none of your business."

"And that stuff was?" he said back quickly. Wyn looked down.

"Shut up, Malfoy," she said dangerously. Malfoy either didn't notice or didn't care that she was on edge at the moment. He kept on pressing her.

"Well, if that wasn't my business before, it is now that you've shared those lovely bits of your personal life to me," Malfoy said, looking as though that were the most obvious answer in the world. Wyn, however, fell speechless. She just stood with her mouth open, looking almost as if she were trying to decide what to say.

"I want to talk to them," she said finally, her jaw tight, lips pursed. She looked at Malfoy, her brown eyes staring directly into his icy blue ones. Both of them expected the other to back down, to let their eyes dart somewhere, anywhere, besides the other's eyes. And both wanted to. Draco wanted—so badly—to tear his eyes away from hers, the ones who were no long quite so innocent, the ones who were no longer quite so bright. The ones that looked old, tired, worn. The ones that looked as though they had seen too much in recent days. Wyn wanted to, as well. She wanted to pull her eyes away from his, his eyes that had seen so much evil, his eyes that held so much contempt. His eyes that, somehow or another, still conveyed the most intense passion, whether it be good or bad. She wanted to pull her eyes away from his, the eyes that were not and had never been innocent, the eyes that knew everything that Wyn couldn't even begin to imagine.

When neither of them moved their eyes, Wyn sighed. With some disappointment that she was the first to give in, she looked away, trying to decide why she couldn't talk to them. What was the reason she couldn't talk to Luna or Talon? Blaise or Yakov, even? Anybody would be able to help her better than Malfoy could. Again, she sighed deeply. "I want to talk to them," she said quietly, "but all of this is so over all of their heads that I just don't think I can. None of them understand what I'm doing right now—none of them understand why I can't just walk away from Cedric. Hell, I don't even understand," her eyes darted to the wall, as far away from Draco as she could manage. "I wish they would understand, I wish I could talk to them, but the more I try, the more I know that I just can't. I can't try to make them understand…" she held her hands tentatively in front of her, cupped together, twiddling her thumbs.

"Understand what?" he asked quietly, surprisingly sweetly. Wyn snorted, something that was both out of character and completely wrong for the seriousness that hung in the air around the two rivals.

"That after all of that, I still love him," Wyn said.

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ANGST.

Oooh. Draco! Yay. Look forward to more Draco in the next chapter, this isn't the end of this conversation.

Hope you guys had a wonderful holiday and a ROCKIN New Year! Review, por favor, mis amigos.


	24. The Real You

Short.

…

My reviewers have failed me. COME BACK, I BEGGETH THEE!

I blame fanfiction. For more of this rant, see my end comments.

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RECAP:

_"I wish they would understand, I wish I could talk to them, but the more I try, the more I know that I just can't. I can't try to make them understand…" she held her hands tentatively in front of her, cupped together, twiddling her thumbs._

_"Understand what?" he asked quietly, surprisingly sweetly. Wyn snorted, something that was both out of character and completely wrong for the seriousness that hung in the air around the two rivals._

_"That after all of that, I still love him," Wyn said._

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"I don't understand that either," Draco said with a slight smile. Wyn smiled back.

"Didn't really expect you to," she said lightly, expecting the same sort of look on Draco's face. Instead, she got a soft scowl.

"Why?" he asked hotly. Wyn looked at him strangely.

"Well, if my friends don't get it, then why would you?"

"Have you not noticed that I'm nearly the exact opposite of that group of yours?" Draco asked.

"Of course I have. It's kind of hard to miss," Wyn gazed at Draco with a new amount of confusion.

"Then shouldn't I understand what they don't? I mean, I'm sure they don't understand pureblood supremacy or social rules either, but I do."

"But this is about love. Love that I can't relinquish, no matter how I try," Wyn said, her brow furrowing.

"So I don't know about love?" Draco asked intensely, letting his eyes pierce into hers.

"Well, I don't know," Wyn said.

"No, you're right, you don't," he said, his hands resting on his knees.

"You—"

"Look, Adworth. I know there are certain 'things' that come with being an Adworth. But, see, that's nothing compared to the crappy preconceived notions I have to deal with because I'm a Malfoy. People expect you to be the good, happy, smart Gryffindor. You do it well. People expect me to be the lousy, mean, ignorant, stuck-up, nasty, intelligent, witty, and sly back-stabbing Slytherin. I do that well, too. But there are other things that come with both of those territories. You are expected to love and be loved. And you are. That's hardly ever a burden. I, however, am expected not to know the first thing about love. They assume that my parents don't love me, that I don't love them, and that I date girls to get in their pants and break their hearts. And sometimes, I guess I do. But the point is, Adworth, all the stuff you hate about being '_the _Adworth' is magnified by a thousand times when you're _'the _Malfoy.'"

"But do you know about love?" Wyn asked, leaning her head against the wall and turning so that she could see Draco out of the corner of her eye.

"Maybe not love like you're talking about—Diggory and you, not being able to stop loving him—but I know love more than people think I do. Maybe my father doesn't love me. I don't think he's ever loved anyone; at least he's never admitted it. But my mother, somehow, is a good, loving mother. She is the best mum I could ever ask for. I know what it's like to be loved, unconditionally, and I know what it's like to love back with the same guarantee. I don't know that many people would believe that," Draco said quietly.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a moment, neither of them believing what they had just divulged to the other. Wyn turned her head so she was once again looking straight forward.

"Being the loved and the lover isn't always a blessing, you know," Wyn said, her hand gliding over her knees. "Like now. I wish I didn't love him."

"So, he cheated on you," Draco said. "Big deal. Girls like Chang don't mean anything to guys like Diggory. He got stressed out, that's all. Sometimes the best way for guys to wind down is just to let their hormones loose on the first girl they see, even if it's not their girlfriend. It's just the way things happen."

"Ever been on the other side?" Wyn asked. "Have you ever been the one who loved—and I mean really loved someone—only to know that they essentially got bored with you and decided they needed a good snog? A good shag?" She was greeted by silence. "Didn't think so," she finished. Draco paused for a moment, recollecting his thoughts and trying to come up with an answer.

"She didn't mean anything that day, and all she means now is a long time to get you to trust him again. I'm telling you, there's no doubt in my mind that he has some elaborate plan to get you to forgive him," Draco said, disgust fringing his increasingly cold sounding voice.

It was strange, really. He had just been spilling out his guts, telling her everything that he had never told anyone else, and now he was slowly but surely slipping back into his old persona. By the way he was responding to her, she knew he was just helping her because he felt some strange sort of pity for her. She could also tell that once this talk was over, everything would go back to normal. Before, she would have said that it was a bloody good thing, too. But now…

He was nice to talk to.

In a weird way, even though she was everything he wasn't and he was everything she wasn't, they complimented each other. Not even that, they understood each other. They shouldn't, really. There was a huge line in the imaginary pureblood circle dividing them into Dumbledore's and Voldemort's. It was an unspoken—or actually, spoken—rule that they didn't mix. But that oil and water quality, the infinite us vs. them, no matter what, had caused some changes in the younger people. Voldemort's were questioning the manslaughter their parents partook in. Dumbledore's were growing tired of constant vigilance and behind the scenes fighting. Plain old teenage rebellion turned into a full-blown war of family values.

And then there were these two.

Wyn had never, ever, questioned her loyalty to Dumbledore. As far as she knew, there was no other logical side to the argument. She just didn't understand who could think otherwise. Draco, on the other hand, had, if only briefly, questioned the morals of killing all of these 'un-pures.' But, when it came down to it, he didn't like muggles. He didn't like mudbloods. And if killing them was the easiest way to get rid of them, well, so be it. But both teenagers felt the strain of being in such high families. Both teenagers felt the strain of so much expectation, so many preconceived notions.

It was hardly any wonder they found each other.

"But the other side, Draco. Do you have any idea what it's like to be on the other side?" Wyn asked, sitting up straighter and looking directly at Draco.

"I don't. But I have watched my mum sit on your side of the fence," Draco said slowly, picking at a hole in his robes. Wyn said nothing for a long moment, watching Draco pick at his robes and rubbing her thumb along the floor.

"Then you have some inkling of the amount it hurts, even if you do know it doesn't mean anything. I know that Cho isn't what Cedric wants. I don't need him or anyone else to tell me that. But it doesn't really matter," Wyn said.

"If it doesn't matter that he loves you and not her, then how can you still love him?" Draco asked, once again pointing out what to him seemed the most obvious and to her seemed the most unclear.

"I don't know," she confessed, looking down at her hands.

"How can you not know? Obviously there's something about him that makes you love him when you shouldn't."

"Do you think your Mum loves your father?" Wyn asked suddenly, turning her head so she was looking at Draco. His face was completely unreadable. At first, she thought she had crossed a line.

"Nothing I say leaves your lips. Ever," Draco said seriously.

"As long as nothing I've said leaves yours," Wyn agreed. Draco nodded slightly.

"Yes, I do. And I think he loved her once, too. But I don't know that he does anymore. I don't think he does. But I know she loves him. I can tell by the way she keeps on letting her heart be broken. She should expect him cheating on her by now, shouldn't she? But she doesn't. She tries to forget these 'incidents' ever happened," Draco said, letting his normal voice slip through—the one filled with such huge amounts of malice.

"And why—no, how—could she love him?" Wyn asked him. She got no response. "If he cheats on her so much that you imply that she should be used to it, if he breaks her heart over and over again, how can she love him?" Wyn asked again, hoping that she hadn't crossed the line. Draco seemed to tense for a moment, but he relaxed after a moment and shrugged.

"If I only knew how she could forgive him… I think I hold him more accountable for his actions than she does."

"Love isn't simple and it isn't easy. Sometimes it's just the wildest and most unpredictable ride there is," Wyn stated softly.

"But without reason?" Draco asked.

"Sometimes, I guess so."

"But why?" Draco asked.

"Hell if I know. I wish I did. God knows I wish I didn't love Cedric. God knows your Mum probably wishes she didn't love your father. But it just doesn't work like that… love is the least logical thing we know."

"And people wonder why I'm reluctant to believe in the power of love," Draco scoffed. "The power of love has ruined my mother's life. The only person I've ever loved, the only person who's ever loved me, and her undying love for my father has ruined her…"

"I'm sorry."

"You say it like it's your fault," Draco said, trying to hide his cracking voice. Wyn pretended she didn't notice.

"I think it's partially my fault that you don't have anyone to talk to about this," Wyn said, avoiding Draco's gaze.

"What?"

"You said so yourself. I'm the 'good, happy, smart Gryffindor.' And no matter what you are, to my house, and to some people in other houses, my opinions of people reign supreme. I wish they didn't, really. I wish people wouldn't take my word for things. I wish they would check into them for themselves. But they don't. So if I don't like you, a lot of other people automatically don't like you, too."

"Don't feel bad. They wouldn't like me if they got to know me anyways," Draco said.

"Maybe not the you you pretend to be, but the you that's sitting next to me right now is a pretty great guy," Wyn said, smiling slightly at him.

"How do you know I'm not pretending right now?" he asked with the same slight smile on his face.

"I put good faith into people," Wyn said. Wyn wasn't exactly sure what had changed, but as soon as the words left her mouth she felt the mood in the room transform. It felt slightly more stiff, slightly more strained, and much more like it usually felt when Draco was in the room. Next to her, Wyn could visibly see Draco tense up a little bit, sitting up a bit straighter and holding his head a bit higher. Almost at the same time, they both let out a sigh. It was quiet for a few more moments, but then Draco spoke up.

"I've noticed, Princess," Draco said, turning back to his normal tone. Jerky, cold, calculated, and uncaring. Wyn shook her head. After all of that, they were back where they had been at the beginning. He was a jerk, and she was a princess…

_Back to normal._

God. How odd did it sound… going back to normal after just a conversation… and yet, Wyn knew normality would feel strange now.

"Let's just pretend that didn't just happen and go back to normal," Wyn said, rather reluctantly, as she stood up. Draco followed suit.

"Adworth—" Draco started, but Wyn held up her hand.

"Look, I'm going to go sort this out with one of the people that I should be sorting this out with. But, uh, Draco? Thanks."

Wyn didn't wait for a response. And, really, she didn't want one. She didn't want one of his usual responses, but even more than that, she didn't want him to say something oddly sweet. She didn't want a snarky comment, she didn't want an awkward silence. All she wanted was, just for once, for she and Draco to understand each other. She wanted him to understand that for some reason, she had turned to him. She wanted him to understand that he had turned to her in return. She wanted him to understand that she probably wouldn't again. She wanted him to understand that the door would be left open, if only a crack. But mostly, she wanted him to understand that she was human, and that she didn't really hate him as much as they both thought she did. She wanted him to understand that perhaps—perhaps she didn't hate him, not at all. What she wanted him to understand was that he was just as human as she was.

Draco never said anything, but they both knew that he understood.

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Didja like the Draco part...? I wasn't too solid on it... but I'm having Cedric/Wyn interaction writers block... it'll come next chapter.

Interested in more of that rant? Ok, here it goes:

My story alerts do not work. My PM's do not work. My review alerts do not work. I got the alert that I posted BHL 23 YESTERDAY. Grah.

DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE dIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE.

Fin.

Or not.

One of the reviewers for A Lonely Night's Dream got the PM that I sent her on Saturday TODAY. None of my reviewers are getting their review replies, cause I've been checking. LO DIDN'T REVIEW MY LAST CHAPPIE! I really seriously hope that was because she didn't get the story alert… cause if she just decided she didn't like this enough to review, I'd be supremely emo.

I WANT THE SAME AMOUNT OF REVIEWS THAT I'VE BEEN GETTING. I MISS MY REVIEWS.

Thank you for your time and patience. Please, do review.


	25. Infuriating Siblings

:Gives everyone a blank stare and an apologetic smile: Umm… I have an excuse? Well, first it was the snow days, and we don't get those where I live, so I **had **so go out and enjoy the snow. Then there was the severe lack of reviews, which was making me sad and quite uninspired to write. And THEN there were finals. I CURSETH THEE, FINALS! YOU ARE T3H DEATH! And this week has been the beginning of a new semester, which apparently means time for a huge Spanish project and English paper. That I've of course been putting off. And I SHOULD be writing my English paper right now, so don't you go complaining, you brats! PLUS I'm PMSing and swim team is STILL going on and I'm really, really ready for it to be done. THREE MONTHS IS ENOUGH, DAMN IT!

:Cough:

Sorry.

But seriously, I am sorry for leaving you guys. It's been ages since I've updated! I wrote this chapter thinking almost solely of Lo—girlie, you better like this chapter. I acknowledged that there are moments when Cedric must look decently attractive. Yays for me!

READ AND REVIEW, I MISS MY REVIEWS!

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Wyn didn't go to talk to anyone after she left Malfoy. She didn't want anyone to talk her out of it. Right now, for a few moments only, she was ready to do this. She was ready to go tell Cedric what she knew in her heart was right; hard, yes, it was hard. It was hard to let everything go like this. But it was right. Her hands felt clammy and sticky, her throat was dry, her stomach in a permanent state of nausea. She hadn't been this nervous when she told him she loved him, but right now, in this moment, she felt as though her heart was about to burst.

"Really, Madame Pomfrey, I'm fine. Can't I just leave?" she heard Cedric say, his voice sounding tired and irritated.

"No, Mr. Diggory. You are not ready to leave yet. You will not leave until one of you admits who did this to you!" Madame Pomfrey exclaimed, sounding equally irritated.

"With all due respect, Madame, this really isn't that big of a deal. I deserved it anyways. We're fine now, so if I can just go and get on with my life…" Cedric said. Wyn heard rustling of sheets, and before Pom got really angry, Wyn stepped through the door. Cedric didn't hear her footsteps, but Pom did. She always did. Really, the woman's senses were amazing. Madame Pomfrey raised her eyebrow, but nodded curtly and walked out of the room quickly.

"Finally," Cedric muttered under his breath. Wyn clasped her hands and put them out in front of her, saying nothing. Cedric didn't seem to notice that anyone was in the room, he just continued to get all of his stuff together so he could leave, muttering under his breath. Finally, Wyn cleared her throat. Cedric looked up, obviously surprised, and nearly dropped his robe that he was putting on over his day clothing.

"Wyn," he said softly, looking away from her as soon as he made eye contact.

"Just say sorry," she said, looking at him directly, unclasping her hands and leaving them hanging at her side. Cedric looked at her, confusion registering all over his face. She always had loved the way he showed his emotions so well…

"What?" he asked.

"Just say sorry," she repeated, looking at him intensely. She was greeted by another blank face. "Really," she said, "it's not a hard concept. Look, I'll even start us off. I'm sorry for freaking out a couple of minutes ago. I was just stressed out.

"Now, your turn. I want an apology." Cedric opened his mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out. Wyn put her hands on her hips and waited. Finally, Cedric tried again.

"I… I don't even know how to put how sorry I am into words," he eked out. Wyn smiled slightly.

"Good start," she said. Cedric swallowed and put his elbows on his knees.

"Wyn, you mean the world to me. I don't know what in the hell I was thinking. Not when I put my name into the Goblet, and not when I… uh… you know…"

"Say it."

"What?"

"Say it." Wyn insisted.

"Why do I have to say it?" Cedric whined, a short smile starting to come over his face when he realized that Wyn was, however subtly, teasing him.

"Because you are on thin ice right now—no, actually, your thin ice has cracked—and I'm telling you to say it."

"Not when I…" he swallowed deeply and then looked down at his hands which had begun to wind their fingers around his robe, "Not when I snogged Cho Chang."

"Now that wasn't so hard," Wyn said, taking her hands down from her hips and putting them into the pockets of her robe. "Keep going."

"I'm sorry for everything that I've put you through and for all the crap you're going to get for talking to me right now."

"Better be sorry for the fit Cal's going to throw…" she said under her breath. Cedric frowned.

"If you're going to get into real trouble for this, I don't want you to be here," Cedric said, standing up and starting towards the door.

"No," Wyn said sternly, "sit. Now."

"Look, Cal is awful when he's pissed off, and I don't want any of that to be directed towards you," Cedric said, looking at Wyn but keeping a safe distance from her.

"He won't do anything to me. I want to hear the rest of your apology. Now sit and continue," Wyn said. Cedric sighed, turned around, and sat back down on his bed.

"Wyn, I love you. I have no idea what I thought I would get for… for… snogging Cho Chang, I have no idea why I didn't spend every waking moment trying to get you to forgive me…

"I don't deserve it. Not at all. Not after all the crap I've put you through in the last few weeks. But Wyn, if you could find the will to forgive me…" Cedric faltered and looked up at her. Wyn looked at him head on, her eyes brimming slightly with tears. Compared to Cedric, however, she looked completely composed. She hadn't heard his voice break, she hadn't seen his eyes welling, he hadn't skipped a beat. And yet, when Wyn looked at him straight on, his face was covered in tears. Wyn felt her heart tighten in her chest. She didn't want him to keep on apologizing. The only thing that was going through her head was: _'My God, I love him so much…'_

"And I just—" Cedric started up again, taking a deep breath in and trying to regain his composure. Wyn tried to listen to more, but all she could do was notice how miserable he looked. Finally, she closed her eyes.

"Stop, Cedric," she said. She opened her eyes and saw Cedric looking crestfallen. He put his head in his hands, and she could hear muffled, low sobs coming from him.

"I'm so sorry…" he said, voice barely above a whisper. For a moment, Wyn was at a loss for words. She knew that she forgave him, she knew what she wanted to say… but she just couldn't say it. She finally just let go of everything and walked over to Cedric, her feet barely making any sound at all on the floor. Cedric's cries only grew louder, and she wondered, briefly, if he thought she was walking away. Taking in a deep breath, Wyn opened her mouth and waited for words to come.

"I love you."

It came out as a whisper, so soft that even she could scarcely hear it. Wyn stood in front of Cedric and said it again.

"I love you."

That was it. Nothing else came after it. There were only three words that would come out of her mouth. Thousands of things she wanted to say, but only three words that worked. Cedric's head came out of his hands, looking up at her, his eyes full of questions. Wyn almost backed away from his gaze, but she instead held it, her eyes filling with tears as well.

"What?" he asked as if he could not believe it. Wyn cracked a small smile.

"You heard me, Cedric," she said.

"I thought I heard you, but I'm sure you didn't say what I thought you said. That would just be crazy," he said, still looking miserable, but slightly more amused than he was just a moment ago.

"But, if you remember, you love me back because I _am _crazy. And slightly cruel and unusual."

"You love me?" Cedric asked, standing up, still looking very confused. Wyn's smile brightened and stretched across her face.

"It's hard not to love someone who's that bloody slow about something so obvious," she said, feeling a few more tears stain her cheek.

"Wyn, I—I don't even—You deserve someone who—"

"Loves me," she finished. "Like you love me."

"But I—what about Cho? And the Tournament?" Cedric asked, completely bewildered.

"A friend reminded me that Cho didn't mean anything to you."

"But the tournament?" he asked. Wyn put her hands on her hips and began to tease him.

"You sound like you don't want me back, Diggory," she said. Cedric looking even more bewildered, stepping back a bit and regarding her with big eyes.

"How can you forgive me for those things?"

"I told you, Cedric. I love you. I guess love sometimes comes without any reason," she answered quietly, searching his eyes for understanding. He was doing the same. Finally, he smiled.

"I won't let myself get off that easily," he said, sitting back down. "I punish myself for at least one more week."

"That's mean!" Wyn cried out.

"But it's fair."

"As punishment to you, yes, but you've forgotten that that's also punishing me."

"Is not!" Cedric said stubbornly. "I'll just wait here until you leave and I won't approach you for another week except to apologize profusely."

"Wrong!" Wyn said.

"What do you mean, wrong? I'm giving myself a punishment!"

"But I want you noowww!" Wyn whined. Cedric gave her a weird look.

"Wyn I—"

Cedric never got to finish his sentence, because before he could say anymore, Wyn got tired of watching his remorseful, deprived eyes and his really, really incredibly sexy lips and practically jumped on top of him, attaching her mouth to his. This was apparently the last thing Cedric was expecting, for it took him a moment to do anything besides stand up. After what seemed like an eternity in Wyn's mind—though it was probably no more than five seconds—Cedric pulled Wyn into himself tighter, kissing her back with more emotion and intensity than he had ever shown before. Even the night when she had finally admitted that she loved him, he had never poured all of him into a kiss like this.

It was _incredibly _sexy.

Over the month—_was it really just that long?_—that she had been dating Cedric, she had come to see how he was sexy in his own special way. Not really sexy in the conventional way—he wasn't nearly confident enough or outgoing enough to ooze sex appeal as other guys did—but it a soft, subdued way. In the way that he wasn't—really wasn't—afraid to hold your hand in public, or kiss you on the cheek instead of snogging you. The way that he would place his hand on top of yours whenever he saw it; the way he would hold open doors whenever he saw them. Cedric, in the depths of his heart, was just a very, very good-looking gentlemen.

_But oh my **god **is he a good kisser!_

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"I don't support this at all," Cal said later that day as Wyn explained what had just happened to him. Wyn, not in the mood to try and convince him that she was fine with what had happened, immediately went into argument mode.

"Good," she said swiftly. Cal's eyes narrowed in her direction before they got less squinty and much softer. He looked as though he was about to offer her advice.

"Wyn—" he started. Wyn cut him off, not in the mode for a lecture about how Cedric really wasn't right for her, and she shouldn't feel obligated to date him even though he was Kip's best friend. It seemed as though he had yet to realize that she actually loved him—him, the real person, not the fact that he was Kip's best friend. Wyn took a deep breath.

"I figured you wouldn't support it," she said swiftly, watching Cal carefully, "That's why I didn't ask you."

"Well then why did you bloody tell me?" Cal asked, a bit of annoyance and a touch of anger hinting in his voice.

"Because you're my brother," Wyn said simply, as if that answered everything.

"Stupid reason," Cal said, stuffing his hands into his pocket and putting on his best pouting face.

"Good reason."

"God! You're infuriating!" Cal burst out, shaking his fists wildly and letting his pouty face fall to reveal one that was much angrier than he wanted to let on. Most people would have been infuriated by this. However, it only seemed to fuel Wyn.

"And you aren't?" she asked harshly, standing so that she was just directly underneath her nearly 6-inch taller brother. Cal faltered for a moment.

"Well, I am, but less than you!" he stammered. Wyn smiled, a slightly cruel and very amused smile.

"Of course you are less infuriating to yourself than I am," she said, the same smile growing larger as she saw Cal grasping for words.

"Then of course I am more infuriating to you that you are," he said desperately. Wyn continued to smile.

"I lost you," she said simply.

"That's because I wasn't making sense," he retorted, as if this was a good answer.

"Then why did you say it?"

"To retort to your smart ass comment," he said simply, once again acting as though this was the obvious answer. Wyn sighed and briefly put her head in her hand. When she came back up, it was with determination to stay on the subject.

"ANYWAYS—we got back together," Wyn said.

"So you've told me and as I've gathered," he said snottily, turning around and starting to walk away as if the conversation were over. Wyn, however, continued to talk, whether or not he was listening.

"Good. So we understand each other," she said.

"Not really."

"Close enough," Wyn said with a shrug as Cal turned around to face her. "I am, after all, a girl, and you a boy."

"Why do you date them if you don't understand them?" Cal asked, trying to make himself look intimidating by having his eyes pierce into hers.

"Right back at you," Wyn's smile shimmered with triumph.

"I really hate you," Cal's eyes turned into slits.

"Glad to hear it," Wyn said, her own eyes matching in intensity. At nearly the exact same moment, Cal and Wyn both turned their separate ways—Cal heading to his dorm, and Wyn heading outside to go see Cedric.

"You're not going to see Diggory, are you?" Cal asked as her hand touched the portrait.

"Sure as hell am."

"Then get before I see you."

"You already saw me," Wyn said.

"Then don't point out the obvious," Cal said, false anger in his voice. Wyn turned around and smiled at her brother. She opened her mouth to point out that he really rather liked Wyn and Cedric when Cedric wasn't being stupid, but he beat her to it.

"Don't rub it in. But if he does anything again, I will kill him," he said. Wyn's smile grew even larger.

"Exactly what I'd expect," she said happily.

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Yeah, I know, content wise it was pretty short… but I'm almost done with the next chapter! Which means I might actually post on time this week! YAYS FOR ME!


	26. Neville's Speech and Author Announcement

Ok, guys. There's a reason this chapter is non-existent. I'm explaining everything at the end…

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"I can't do it, Nev!" Wyn whined. "You really don't want me to go see this lunatic, do you?" she asked him. Neville gave her a confused look and prodded her towards the door.

"Wow, Wyn," he said. "I didn't know you could be such a wuss. What's the worst he could tell you?"

"That everything that I've been feeling is right and that Cedric is going to die soon."

"Oh," Neville said, examining his hands rather closely.

"Don't make me go!" she said, grabbing his hand as they came closer and closer to Dumbledore's office.

"Wouldn't you rather know?" he asked.

"No! Who wants to know that the person they love is going to die?" she asked desperately, clinging onto Neville more tightly.

"Wyn, listen to me," Neville said, turning Wyn so that she was facing him. "If he does die and you don't go to see this guy, you are going to kick yourself in the butt everyday for not knowing, for not preparing, for not trying to make the last moments you spend together worth it."

"But I'll know, Neville. How can I get into a relationship if I _know _that he's going to die?"

"Besides maybe Harry, you are the bravest person I know, Wyn. If you love him like you say you do, I doubt it will matter if you know what's going to happen to him. The only thing that will matter is that you love him."

"But what if it's not enough?" Wyn asked, tears flowing down her cheeks. Neville pulled Wyn into a hug and ran his fingers through her hair, letting her tears thoroughly soak his shoulder.

"Love can make anything work," Neville said, his voice sounding lonely and unconvincing. She could tell that he didn't believe himself. Wyn tried to stop her next thought, but it burst out anyways.

"But not even love can bring back the dead."

Neville said nothing and stepped back from Wyn slightly.

"_Nothing_ can bring back the dead, Nev," she said.

"There are worse things than death, Wyn," Neville finally said seriously, taking Wyn by the shoulders and pulling her back so he could so her face. He looked her straight in the eye and she was reminded, painfully, how much worse it must be to know that your parents were still alive, but only shells of the people they used to be.

"If it's Cedric's destiny to die at the end of this year, then at least be happy in knowing that you and he both knew that you love each other. You hear me, Wyn? He knows he loves you, and you know you love him. At least be happy that no matter what happened before and what happens after, for at least a few months, you had it all. Know that he's not sitting in some hospital for the rest of his days, clinging onto the last bit of life he has forever and ever, never leaving, never getting better, never getting worse," tears were streaming down his face, and he didn't move his hand to wipe them away. He took a deep breath. "Knowing that they'll never get better is so much harder. I would rather they die than lay there like that forever, not recognizing me or Grams or each other. They don't know what they had. They don't know they had anything. They don't even remember each other; they don't remember that they loved each other. Wyn, please take comfort in the fact that he'll love you until the moment he dies. Take comfort in the fact that he'll know your name and recognize your face. Yes, Wyn, death is horribly hard. It's something that you know," he paused and sucked in another breath, letting it out slowly and looking back up into Wyn's eyes. "But one thing you don't know, Wyn, one thing that many people don't know, is that sometimes living is a thousand times worse."

Wyn opened her mouth to say something to him, but he let go of her shoulders and bolted, his arms wrapped around his middle in one of the few embraces he had ever known, his own. His head was bowed down, searching the floor for what he would never have, for what he would never know.

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Well, here's the point where I tell you that I've had this written for close to three months.

Yeah.

And there used to be about ten pages after it, but I hated them all so much that I deleted them.

Uh huh.

And Wyn makes me hate myself as a writer.

Believe it.

And this is the last we'll be hearing from this story because I want to severely injure Wyn whenever I'm writing her, and that's no good because she's the main character.

I thought I might be able to write this again after literally giving myself a month and half of just ignoring it and Wyn and everything. I think I might have updated it, but I honestly don't remember. And then the month and a half came to an end and my grandfather died, and I gave myself another two weeks because this story has so much to do with death and what I was experiencing at the time. I mean, editing this was quite literally one of the hardest thing I've had to do… because he spent the last week of his life not recognizing us, and not knowing and not hearing and—and it was the inevitable because he'd been sick for so long, but he was just laying there. Everyone was hoping that he'd go fast so we wouldn't have to watch him laying there like that, because he hated sitting still. He couldn't do it. That's why he hated the hospital so much.

It wouldn't have been so bad, but I wasn't even there—I was sitting at home a thousand miles away knowing that he was never going to wake up and knowing that I would never get to say goodbye… by the time I got there his ashes were already in his urn and people were around twenty-four/seven to pay their respects… I didn't even try to touch this.

Even after that was all done, when I wanted to come back to this, all I wanted to do was delete the entire bloody story. So I gave myself another week of cool down—on everything, not just on this. I didn't write any of my stories for a week—I wanted to kill them all. But then in the last week, I've been slowly coming back to everything I was working on. I came back to this and I deleted 25 pages of it.

It wasn't meant to be, kids.

So, I'm sorry, but this story is officially discontinued… I'll probably be deleting it from existence in the next few days… it's a lot to delete, is all. 153 pages of single-spaced 12 pt. Times New Roman you guys have read.

I'd just like to say though… I actually really liked Neville's speech, lol. It put Wyn in her bloody place. That's the only reason I put up any of the story. This was just going to be an author's announcement.

Bye guys.


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